At What Cost
by IceCrystal2
Summary: Can a single soldier make the difference for the war? Geminite Dent might be that kind of soldier, but John Connor, Charley Dixon, James Ellison, and Derek Baum formerly Reese all fight for the future, with Cameron ever near.What will the end cost?
1. Chapter 1

**(Disclaimer: I'd be a millionaire by now if I actually owned anything to do with the terminator franchise people;p**

**A/N Italic's is something I think you should know or someone said that wasn't heard from the POV. I know also that in the Chronicles Derek said he celebrated John's thirtieth birthday with him, but I've changed the ages around a little. Hope you enjoy and REVIEW. I'm kinda iffy about this story and it would help me a lot to decide whether to keep it on here or not if you could review. I have more for this story but I'm not sure about it. Even flames would help me so please review-thx Icecrystal2)**

Damn it was dirty. That was the description of the typical surroundings of Major Dent. Though nothing else was to be expected after Judgment Day. Major Dent was one of the few soldiers that had connections in the command center of the human resistance, but you wouldn't know it. She did not advertise that fact around her combat unit. Major Geminite Dent was a member of the 129th combat unit and she had been one of the original members of the team since Judgment day in the year 2008. In the year 2008 Major Dent had been in her sophomore year of college at the UCLA. Major Dent was not an attention grabbing attractive woman, but she thrived in college with her drive to understand. Geminite had been a typical bottle blonde during her days at UCLA, but at 5' 7" she had stood out little. She had never been one for tanning so her complexion stayed a creamy white. She had never been the skinniest girl around but she was never self conscious in a room of women. However her most valuable resource was her family before and after Judgment Day, a time when you didn't speak about what you valued for fear they would be stripped away. Geminite, who preferred to be known as J, for her own reasons, before the war was a daughter to a general in the United States Army. Her father had been the one to save most of her family during the original attack by Skynet. Only she had been out during that day.

J had been out at the UCLA campus trying to track down a book for her history project, her lest favorite subject, in the campus library when the missiles touched down. The concrete structure of the old library had kept her alive, but the terminators had been the ones to find her and her classmates buried alive two days later. J had been one of the few taken to a work camp because she had never been the kind of girl that caught attention. She had often called the work camp a concentration camp, the concept had been the same to her. The only thing that stopped her from total emotional shut down was the others at the camp. Four weeks she spent at the camp. She watched people commit suicide without a second glance. The children, all four of them, where the only ones not starving as the adults gave away their food to them. And in truth the terminators only gave them enough food to keep the children alive. J would often lie in the mud in the camp and trace her new barcode tattoo while she thought. Her blonde hair had faded to her natural dark brown, though the blonde was still evident. J used to think about what was going on in the rest of the world. She would think and wonder about her family. She had worried when she was first brought to the camp but after a week she had realized that wondering was all she could afford to waste her energy on. The work of moving dead decaying bodies had nearly killed her emotions the first day, but as the month mark passed she experienced a new emotion long buried back in the UCLA library. Hope.

Explosions were common place, but the men that stood at the only entrance and exit to the camp where the only things J saw as the camp was liberated and all the victims were lead by a man, if you could call the twenty year old a man, who stood with an attractive woman beside him, not a scratch on either. There had been more men with John on that day, but J wouldn't remember their faces as clearly. She remembered the little boy beside her, the teenager she'd been looking after stand a little straighter and move to the entrance before any one else.

"I'm finding Kyle." Derek Reese had said, he'd been seventeen then. J remembered Kyle's fourteen year old face as he'd run down the hill from behind John toward Derek The sight of the two brothers had given her the motivation to join the fighting in the first place.

Jerking upward out of the scrap metal that surrounded her Major Dent pushed the memory/dream away instantly. It had in fact been five years since that day. She was now twenty five years old and a serious fighter. Having found out her family was alive and that her father was helping run things inside the command center J had decided she was better off as a fighter. Her family had been unhappy but she had already decided she was going to fight back. Her mother, a school teacher before Judgment Day had been put in charge of the children as the parents fought. Her sister had just graduated nursing school on Judgment day and had been drafted to the medical division under General Dixon.

"Dent, settle." Her commanding officer Lt. colonel Mason told her as she sighed out of her exhaustion. It had been six weeks since the 129th unit had been back at base and well over three months since J had seen her family, six since she had seen her father since he was always at the command center a place she had never been. In that six months J had been with her unit topside, hiding from terminators, on a classified mission. It had unsettled all of them when their mission parameters had been outlined. This was a suicide mission and they all knew it, but if it would bring down those metal bastards they were game. The 129th combat unit had been given the mission to take down as many terminators of varying models as possible, a standard mission, but their tweak was that they were charged with obtaining the dead terminators CPU's. It was hard enough to kill a terminator, but to get close enough to take the CPU had been difficult.

The 129th unit had started out with twelve members, J included as well as the other two founding members of the unit. Over the span of the six months they had been on this mission there were only three of them left. Major Dent, Lt. Colonel Mason and Private Henderson were all that were left. It was dangerous to keep on with their mission but they trudged on mostly because along the way they had discovered that Major Dent had a certain talent for killing terminators. She had herself killed four terminators, each having taken out one of her teammates before hand. The CPU's of 20 terminators were duct taped to her stomach as to not be broken or lost.

"HK." Henderson said right before Dent heard the deafening roar of the machine in question. It had been an observation of theirs that were ever an HK was at least one terminator was not far behind.

"How many you bet?" J asked Mason while her hand moved to the trigger of her plasma rifle. They all had agreed they would take out five more terminators before heading back, or when another one of them died the other two where to hi-tail it the more likely option.

"You tell me Dent." Mason smiled, it was a creepy fact they all accepted without question that J knew things she shouldn't. It freaked J out to no end that she was able to take down a terminator by herself. However every CPU that was crushing her ribs had been another hard fought battle for her unit her fallen comrades evidence of that. J took a deep breath and watched the HK fly. Her head never going over the cover of the pile of metal and bones.

"I don't know. It's flying higher than usual. Something's not right. It seems like there isn't a lot of activity around." J told Mason truly confused by the flight path of the HK. Usually the HK were the scouts for terminators, why would it be surveying an area that extensive? Mason and Henderson both glanced at the HK realizing she was right. Deep frowns marred their faces trying to decide what to do next. With this unpredictable pattern anything could be happening and that was worse then knowing an entire army was on the other side of their cover.

"Mason?" Henderson asked, looking for orders, J looked his way also. The forty-five year old gray haired man looked back at the HK for a moment with a sigh. J looked closely at her commanding officer. The man was a true warrior, his eyes hard in response to the unknown situation. Henderson, a more boyish looking man being only eighteen years old frowned as he heard the HK zoom back over their heads.

"I don't like this. Retreat." Mason said as he sifted his weight forward, gun held before him before his feet hit the ground. J nodded, her own gun feeling light in her hands. Henderson as always flinched before raising his gun. Three feet out all three jumped into a battle position as the scrap metal they had been using for cover was light a flame by a plasma shot.

"Shit!" Mason called out as the explosion sent all three of them flying back into a half melted suburban, each twisting in mid air to reduce the impact. J opened her eyes instantly after impact, raising her gun first. Glass piercing her shoulders she quickly made sure the CPU's were alright before glancing at her teammates in a split second. Mason had landed on the driver's side door, bruised but alright. Henderson had hit the headlights, it looked like she was the only one bleeding though. She didn't pause to think about the infection she could get since that glass had been sitting there for years in its broken state. J rose off the dash board, staring always into the burning pile in front of them. A figure was materializing quickly and they all knew it was a terminator, but their eyes all widened as the metal bastard walked through the flames, flesh in tact.

Terminators' walking through fire was nothing new to the three, but never had a terminator walked through the flames without its artificial skin burning. They all knew instantly this was a model they had never encountered.

"Fuck!" Mason yelled as he fired his plasma gun directly for the terminator's head. He wasn't aiming to collect its CPU, this was terminated or they would be killed now. J rose her gun and fired as she finished pulling herself out of the wreckage with the help of an also firing Henderson.

"Run!" J ordered Henderson, the youngest member of their unit and the most inexperienced with just two years of fighting, making her his commanding officer. They all kept firing for dear life, but J saw the terminator come closer, its skin shown brilliant silver before she was struck with the force of a close plasma shot. The burn up her left arm was painful, but she disconnected the pain as scrap metal tore at her skin in her hast to escape. This was death they all knew it because they were alone. They wouldn't lead this thing to any base even though there weren't any close by, because they would rather die. J glanced at Mason over her shoulder as she ran backward firing all the time. A blinding heat came at her before she was splattered with red droplets. J cried out as what was left of Henderson dropped dead beside her.

"Dent!" Mason called out in front of her pushing her back, conscious that she held their entire mission with her.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Mason called shoving her backward a single glance into her eyes. J felt a tear roll down her face unnoticed as Mason reversed directions and started running at the terminator.

"ADAM!" J cried out as she fired at the terminator frozen in her spot as her comrade sacrificed himself to the terminators fist. J was consumed by an overwhelming sense of anger and control as she pushed herself toward the terminator screaming as she went, the mission be damned if it killed anyone else.

"Fuck you metal bastard! Stop it! I'm going to terminate you mother fucker!" J yelled firing her weapon, not paying attention to her aim as her family's faces as well as that one glance she'd ever gotten of John Connor came to her mind as she fired. It did not register that the terminator stopped moving, allowing her shots to terminate it. Only when she was standing above the machine's lifeless body firing endlessly into its torso did she cry. A moment later she collapsed next to the machine, ever muscle in her body screaming, blood running down her left arm and back. J sat their only a split second before she disconnected her emotions so she could function with a quick mental curse at herself. She stood shakily looking at the charred body of Private Jeremy Henderson and the crushed head of Lt. Colonel Adam Mason. As she stared at the fallen body of her commanding officer the weight of the CPU's around her stomach hit her. The mission was what mattered now.

Leaning down J took the Swiss army knife that held her chocolate brown hair on top of her head down. The dirty locks sticking together, but reaching to the middle of her back. Flipping the blade out J knelt down to the dead terminator that strangely seemed more liquid than solid. She dipped her knife forcefully into the silver liquid of the skull and was surprised when her knife went without protest and hit a single wire connected to the CPU. J knew then that she needed to hurry. It was only a minute or two before this bastard was getting back up. Swiftly she reached into the skull, her hand tingling as it came into contact with the liquidly flesh. The CPU came out with a distinctive snap. J examined the CPU before she stood up intending to bury her comrades, forgetting for the moment that there could have been more until the HK roared above her. She lunged for cover right before it shot at her. J waited till it had passed before she took one last look at what was left of her combat unit.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to the dead bodies lying there before she took off toward the direction of the head quarters base. It was five days to the nearest base, they called it the "point of no return" for a reason and J knew she would be in serious trouble if she was discovered. Three days into her journey she felt herself get dizzy as she sat waiting for an HK to fly over before she continued. Looking down she saw her arm was crusting, but it was still bleeding the cause of her dizziness. She took the opportunity to bandage the arm crudely before continuing. During her run J considered what she should do when she got to sector seventeen and then to HQ. She didn't know who Mason's superior had been. It was a necessity with covert missions in case a metal bastard got the second in command. The commander was always protected, but the second was the one suppose to die. With a sigh she decided that she would seek out her dad, he was a general right. He would know who was in charge of mission code name: Rosetta Stone. All she would be able to give him would be the code name, but he'd help her, no questions asked. He was a life long military man after all.

J avoided the obvious sounds of battle as she went. Knowing Mason would have ordered her onward anyway. This mission was important and another battle in her state would have probably killed her and they would have failed the mission. No way was she going to let that happen. Exhaustion set in as she spied the entrance to the base, the hatch to the underground. She sighed, looking this way and that, glancing at the sky to make sure she wouldn't be followed despite it being a paranoid gesture since this was their farthest outpost and their were ground troops everywhere. She spied one such unit two hundred meters to her right, she knew they had weapons trained on her and a dog by their sides to confirm when she got closer. She purposely shouldered her weapon, the instinct to always have it in reach fighting her brain tooth and nail. J advanced across the scrap metal, nodding to the men and women of the unit she had seen two hundred meters ago as she came within fifty feet of the entrance. Some continued to follow her with their guns, but the highest ranking official nodded to her since her shouldered weapon was the latest anti-metal detection technique. She nodded back, well aware that her face was stone, not a single emotion anywhere to be seen. She couldn't afford them right now.

J knew her way to the command center; after all she was originally operating out of this base. She had been here when John Connor had gone on his covert mission with Kyle Reese a comrade of hers at the time beyond the "point of no return". Derek Reese had been very pissed after that mission but all she knew was that Kyle and John's bodyguard a terminator named Cameron didn't come back. Cameron turned up two weeks later or so she was told by her sister the last time they had talked about it. That had been two years ago, and the disappearance or rather death of Kyle and disappearance and probably death of Derek soon after where sore subjects with her now.

However, every one knew there were terminators in the command center, a fact that dissuaded many from entering. No one understood why, but they all assumed they were being experimented on. J knew better then that, but she didn't find it wrong like so many people would because she'd thought it through. Terminators were a great asset, one of the reasons she had been given the position of second in charge of her current mission and the treasure keeper as Mason had called her. J had argued with him about military protocol when he'd given her the CPU's to carry. He'd done it after the first terminator she killed by herself, after the loss of the first of their unit. He'd always said the mission was more important and it would keep her alive, of course after that he'd told her to shut up and follow orders. J hadn't really thought about the terminators in the command center before signing up with him. Though at this moment she was more than a little angered with the thought that one of them could have killed someone to get their CPU.

Ten dogs greeted her as she climbed down the ladder. She allowed each of them to smell her hand and nodded to their handlers. The halls seemed endless before and after the connecting tunnel, but J made her way through the maze with a determined manor about her. She was gaining small looks the farther she got within the complex because of her wounds, it was only right they assume she should be in the medical ward. However, she knew she'd find Stephanie at the command infirmary and she didn't need her sister right now and she needed to keep moving, keeping her from the sector's infirmary. She needed to turn in her mission then worry about herself. This was Mason's mission and she was finishing it now! She knew she was still bleeding but nothing was going to stop her. She noticed the two T-600 model terminators at the entrance to the command center hours after she'd gotten underground, she didn't even flinch as she moved past them into the round command center. She took a moment to take in the two levels of activity. Very old fashion computers were from wall to wall on the second level while the first level housed a large podium with papers scattered about. Worn desks were set up along the walls of the first level. Two other doors could be seen on either side.

J only paused a moment, looking instead for her father. She didn't know where he was, but she figured she could ask anyone below her rank. She knew none of the other generals and she was not about to spill secrets to anyone else. J didn't see the gray head of her father anywhere on either level. She was about to turn and ask the nearest terminator, a T-600 model at the entrance to which she hadn't moved from when someone she didn't know barked out her name and rank.

"Major Dent! What are you doing?" J turned to the sound of the voice to find a 6' foot even man that looked to be no older then thirty five. She eased into attention stance not sure whether she should salute from her view at the moment. His eyes reminded her of someone, but she let it go when she saw the rank clearly on his uniform, his name standing out to her plainly as one of the highest ranking officials in the entire resistance. She only wondered briefly why he knew her name as she saluted painfully.

"General Baum." J saw the general flinch only a moment when her scratchy voice permeated the air. She hadn't spoken in five days and with little water her voice hurt to use, but she ignored it. Before J could continue though she was distracted when every face in the room turned.

"Baum?" J's jaw would have dropped had she not been in the military and had a certain discipline. There standing behind General Baum was Commander John Conner followed by the same woman J had seen the day she was rescued five years ago, only this woman seemed deader then before. Changed or not J knew a terminator when she saw one. General Baum turned to Commander Connor it was obvious that the two had been talking when Baum had addressed J. Connor's eyes however turned to J and she felt herself almost shiver under his gaze. This was John Connor the legend, the man that had saved her five years ago without knowing it. This was the leader of the resistance and he was more handsome than J remembered. Derek turned to John only slightly, never taking his eyes off J before he whispered to John. _She was a teammate of mine and Kyle's before you sent me back._ Derek whispered before he advanced toward J.

"At ease, Major." He asked, taking in the extent of her injuries, almost winching. Geminite Dent was standing before him with serious wounds. She shifted positions stiffly. Of course Derek knew J; they had been in the same camp. She had looked after him and Kyle till they were sent back in time after they were liberated. In truth J was older than he would be right now by three years, but with all the years he had spent in the past he was older than she was now. Time travel still confused him even after all these years.

"Sir." J addressed him, staying still in her position per her training, turning her attention to General Baum since it wasn't right for a low officer to even think of addressing Connor but she knew John still had his eyes on her.

"What are you doing here Major? You should be in sick bay with these injuries." Derek questioned her, feeling at a loss as the entire command center looked on as they usually did when John was doing anything but working at a desk. They were in fact standing in the middle of the command center now. He could hear the whispers as to why the General knew a Major by name.

"Sir…" J addressed him watching him flinch slightly without emotion figuring he would know what she needed to do, after all he was second to only John in the entire resistance.

"Combat unit 129 with a successful mission Sir." No one missed the snarl that came from her lips at the word successful. Derek and John understood imminently, as did Dixon and Ellison who were behind the younger men, no one else really understood anything other than the fact that Major Dent was the only survivor of a covert mission she was not leading by the look of things and didn't know who to report to. This was only a problem with covert missions after all. J froze as she waited for someone to come up and take her report, what surprised her was when John stepped closer to her.

"Move freely major." He said, his voice sounding like velvet to J as she did as ordered, her face staying emotionless, knowing the emotions would take what energy she had left and have her collapsing, but it was a small comfort to be able to stand where her limbs weren't screaming as bad.

"Cameron, escort Major Dent into my office." John said looking to his robot bodyguard before speaking to J.

"She won't hurt you." He told her, trying to reassure her about a terminator like any rational person would. He raised an eyebrow at her response.

"I'm aware of that sir." J told him as the terminator named Cameron came toward her. Without asking or waiting for J's reaction Cameron picked J's right arm from her back and slung it over her metal frame practically caring the woman toward one of the two doors J had seen. J gave no struggle only because it was what her commander wanted, otherwise she would have stayed put in her rightful military position.

J was aware that she was being carried through a hallway past the farthest reaches of the base accessible for average personal. She felt her exhaustion sink in slightly but she fought it off as Cameron opened a door at the very end of the hall. The inside reflected the times in which they all lived. A small chipping desk stood in one corner of the small room. A full sized bed took up the other corner and this left the rest of the small room bare for walking around. It took J a moment to realize Cameron hadn't brought her to an office, but the quarters of John Connor himself! J almost stopped breathing with shock, what the hell was flashing through her mind. This mission had just gone from confidential to inner circle confidential! She was thoroughly wondering just how deep Mason had been at that moment and how he'd gotten that deep. After all it was a common understanding that John Connor had no friends.

J felt very uncomfortable as Cameron sat her down on John's bed. J, feeling way out of place instead picked herself up, the eyes of Cameron ever following her. J walked the few paces to John's desk, pulling his wooden chair away from the paper covered desk so as not to see anything she shouldn't before sitting down. Cameron then proceeded to advance on her and J then felt uncomfortable with the Terminator. Here she was with the CPU's of twenty one terminators digging into her stomach, the terminator had to know that by the way she was sitting. Instead of moving for the CPU's or J's plasma rifle Cameron instead reached for her injured arm. Only then did she realize the terminator had a roll of gaze in her hand. It was several minutes before the door opened again and by that time Cameron had almost finished bandaging every cut on her arm. A process that had been lengthened when J had refused Cameron access to under her arm, feeling it was a little to close to the CPU's. However as the door opened, J stood at attention like a good operative the only indication that it hurt the tightening of her jaw. In walked the entire inner circle of the human resistance, J paled. What had she been involved in?

"Major, in this room we do not operate on military formality." General Dixon, a rather kind looking man in his mid-forties said to her as he sat on the edge of the bed, glancing up and down her body in a manor befitting a doctor. J's brain worked on overdrive with that proclamation, which meant that Connor did have friends, all the four stars.

"Yes Sir." She said, not knowing anything else to say. J saw General Ellison smirk as well as General Baum.

"It's Charlie in here." General Dixon smiled at her, giving her the hint that she needed to relax from her at attention stance. J loosened her arms, but stayed standing. General Ellison, an intimidating looking African American man in his mid to late forties as well, then leaned against the wall next to the door before he spoke.

"James." Ellison told her, following Dixon's example, apparently they were serious about the lack of military protocol in John's quarters. J watched as General Baum flopped onto John's bed announcing she should call him Derek. J just watched them as they spoke, never relaxing, just too exhausted to take it all in before she realized John was next to her.

"Sit down." John told her nodding to the chair she had previously been occupying. J realized that Cameron was mimicking Ellison on the wall behind her and John had moved to sit on the desk to her right not at all as composed as he had appeared before in the command center. None of them looked like they were general's like this. She decided that was the point of the none military protocol in the first place. An escape within this terrifying world she realized. It was important that they all look like they didn't need anything or anyone to function and hold the respect of the people. On the outside they were thought to all be genius bastards. J observed them all for a moment before slowly moving carefully to sit down, always following orders. Dixon was by her side in a moment, guiding her with her uninjured arm before she shook her head. When she was seated there was a moment of awkward silence before John spoke his voice sounding younger than before.

"Do you have a first name Major?" He asked leaning off the desk slightly. J turned her attention to John, his presence not as intimidating as it had been before. It seemed bewildering that Mason had been in this ring of trust, and by necessity she was welcomed as well. Before J could open her mouth she was surprised when both Cameron and Derek answered for her.

"Geminite." They both said everyone looking at Derek instead of Cameron, who had probably scanned her barcode and cross referenced her memory banks. He shrugged, he looked so much more like an at ease teenager than a general. J suppressed the twinge that brought that thought on. John shook his head at Derek quickly. Nothing had been explained yet and this was not something that happened often, inviting someone into their little world away from the world.

"Geminite Dent, Major under Lt. Colonel/ General Adam Mason. Found two days after Judgment Day at the campus of University of California Los Angeles. Taken to a work camp used to clear the debris of the initial…" That was all J could take, on the side of good or not she would not be reminded of that now.

"Stop. Your definition of 'debris' is not something I want to hear." J chocked out, turning to face Cameron head on, twitching for the plasma rifle still hanging from her shoulder. J saw John give Cameron the same order before she turned her head back to her commanding officers, not noticing that Cameron stopped before John told her to.

"I prefer J." She said her voice deadpanning. The stares of the general's that surrounded her turned to seriousness instantly and J was struck with what it must be like to be in a briefing of regular standards with them that would be scary. John was again the first to talk.

"Not that this isn't important, but I would like to know what happened to Adam." John sighed knowing his friend was gone, but this mission was hopefully going to bring down Skynet's defense grid, hopefully they could bring it down again this time with out having to fight two fronts, the past and future. J flinched noticeably for all to see.

"We were down to…" J began squeakily before John handed her a bottle of water from his cargo jacket. She took it gratefully taking a large gulp before continuing.

"…three of us. Colonel Mason decided that we would stay out. He said we would take five more terminators or lost anyone else before we headed in. We were five days out when we spotted the HK. We caught some rest, but the HK was flying higher then we knew. Mason decided we needed to retreat since we didn't know anything more. It was then that we were ambushed." J stopped a moment to close her eyes, the emotion was coming up and she knew that would be her undoing.

"How many?" John asked her, placing a hand on her bandaged shoulder lightly to wear J couldn't really feel it, which she was grateful.

"One, but it wasn't like anything else we had faced it was like liquid. It walked through the fire without a scratch to its skin." J sighed opening her eyes and glancing at the man that was her same age to her right looking for an answer. John sighed before speaking again.

"A T-1000. You are lucky to be alive." John told her. J sighed as a morbid fear cascaded over her it wasn't luck, it was Adam Mason. J heard Ellison gasp lightly before she continued.

"Thought we took out the supplies for the construction of those models." Ellison mumbled from across the room before J continued.

"Colonel Mason charged it after we lost Private Henderson. I managed to shoot it into stasis after his death. I removed its CPU before it got back up. I headed in shortly after." J explained giving the generals a moment. The silence was deafening for that moment

"It's a sad end to a friend. I feel like you need an explanation for this secrecy. Adam would have been a general with us, but we were concerned that Skynet would target him as well. We entrusted Adam with Rosetta Stone as you know. Adam was a brilliant man and it is a sad day, for us and the resistance." John told her his voice shifting to the velvety tones she'd heard in the command center for a moment, his hand rubbing lightly on her shoulder even though she couldn't really feel it reassured her. J took that as her cue to produce the results of the mission.

"On that note." J sighed, not expecting the great effort it took to rise from the chair. J removed her rifle slowly as Cameron grabbed the mussel, ever true to her mission to protect John. J let Cameron take the rifle, but not without an exhale of breath. John took the gun from her and placed it on the desk sensing the unease a gun toting terminator would cause J right now. However every fiber of J's being was screaming with the long ignored pain as she removed her cargo bags from her shoulders. Slowly she removed the vest, her shoulders screaming in pain before she realized that someone was helping her. She looked over to see both Dixon and John helping her, Derek looking like he would be up in a minute if he was needed. J sighed as the familiar weight was lifted from her aching shoulders and placed on the floor next to Dixon.

"Sick bay after this, Major." John commanded, breaking with the none military zone rule in that velvety voice that sounded somewhat weird to her ears after hearing the way he talked to the four stars. J nodded as she moved to the hem of her military issue green tank top. She lifted lightly so that the blood stained fabric rested just below her bust at the top of the duct tape attached to her stomach.

"Shit!" Derek exclaimed as he saw the number of the CPU's each forming bruises into her creamy complexion.

"Good Lord!" Ellison exclaimed from the other side of the room. J felt like collapsing as she reached around to the end of the tape. She let out a hiss as her shoulder moved for the first time in at least five days. The shards of glass making it known they were still there. J flinched as her hand was covered by a more masculine and calloused hand a second later. J looked up to find John leaning over her. She hadn't even heard him move. With a slow pace John peeled back the tape trying not to hurt her, hearing the suction effect it had on her stomach, but each CPU stuck to the tape instead of falling.

"James, take these to the techs please." John ordered Ellison handing the tape to the African American man in one quick flick.

"Wait." J called out in a pleading tone, letting her tank top fall back over her now exposed stomach, the purple bruises from where each CPU had been plainly visible. J and Mason both hadn't wanted to take the chance they would fall; of course J had tightened the tape each time a new CPU was added unbeknown to Mason. J self consciously then moved her hand out from underneath John's aware she was starting to sweat, people didn't really touch her. J then moved her uninjured hand into the top of her tank top directly over her heart removing the T-1000 CPU with a snap she heard but didn't feel.

"The 1000." She explained as she handed it to General Ellison. Ellison nodded as he took it from her, sweeping out of the door on the same breath. J saw him leave with all her hard work and felt everything hit her with more force than a terminator. The moment the door closed her eyes rolled back into her head the physical and emotional pain to much for her mind to handle.

"Shit." Before J fell to the floor however John had her firmly against his chest preventing the fall and smearing blood on the front of his uniform. Dixon and Derek were up and over to her as well. John marveled at how light she was, after all the only women that had ever been that close to him had been his mom and the first Cameron and Riley.

"Lay her down." Dixon said to John going into paramedic mode, he had no idea how this girl had managed five days in this condition before succumbing. John crossed the room in two swift steps stepping back so Dixon could work as he removed her tank top to see all her injuries clearly. Derek fell in next to him staring at the woman John had learned was named J. This was getting complicated quickly. Both John and Derek turned their backs as Dixon started wrapping the gaze he had taken from Cameron, around her chest, over her sports bra after removing a few shards of glass from the swelled flesh with the tweezers in his knife he kept in his pocket.

"Derek, what aren't you telling me?" John looked up at his uncle aware the man had a tortuous look about him. Derek just narrowed his eyes, trying to be playful as always, but he had never really gotten the time to consider what was happening to the people he knew in the future when he was running around trying to stop Skynet with the rest of the generals. With a sigh, Derek answered his nephew, after all John found out anything he really wanted to.

"She looked after me in that camp before you and Kyle found me. First terminator I ever fought, she'd had a year on me, had me down without a chance in hell. Runs out of no where and shoots the thing in the head, drags me back to base shaking me the whole time" Derek said, not taking his eyes off the face in front of him, twisted in agony. John turned his attention from Derek to J who was being laid down, fully bandaged, truly grateful for her now. He found himself imagining her saving Derek, something he wanted nothing more than to have stopped when he had the chance, the damn FBI. Hopefully the past him could follow his instincts better, and maybe James wouldn't make the same mistakes, then he had and prevent this in the next time dimension. John looked over the girl on his bed for a moment. She wasn't all together unfortunate looking but the pain on her face made his heart twist. Derek continued, aware Dixon was listening to, putting more focus on his patient however, but still listening.

"She used to check in with me and Kyle. She was in a different unit, but when we were at the same base she'd track us down. She was like a big sis I guess you could call it. Damn I never thought this would happen after I was gone." Derek sighed, his emotions bottled up, but John still clasped a hand on the man's shoulder.

"She's lost a lot of blood. I've stopped it for now, but without a transfusion I don't know." Dixon broke the moment. John took in his father figure's bloodied hands his mind knowing he had to do everything to save this girl.

"Cameron, blood type?" John asked the replacement. He looked to Cameron's replacement, wondering if they could find a donor or he could do it. John was not ignorant of the fact that very few people had type O- blood anymore. John sometimes wished he was one of those people; it would save a lot of people. Even before Judgment Day type O- wasn't the most popular blood to come across let alone his and Derek's type. Derek saw the wheels turning in John's head and he gave John a hopeful smile. Dixon thought about everything that was going on as he held his hand out to Cameron for the test, J's blood covering his fingers. In his rush to help her he hadn't thought to use gloves or be the utmost careful, something that was a luxury these days, a fact that bothered him to no end. He knew the risks of diseases better then most, except perhaps Derek, who had been infected by the Hepatitis B virus when he had helped the latest victim of the reprogramming incident. Thank goodness it wasn't the deadly version and the man had survived and let them know Stephanie had told diagnosed him after a fever, he had Hepatitis B. Derek had been really worried after that, until Dixon told him it wouldn't cause any problems for him and that he would be free of the infection after a week or so completely anyway.

"Blood type AB-. Disease: Negative." Cameron announced, knowing where John's logic would go after her admission, doing the extra test to make sure John was protected. Dixon laughed, actually laughed at that. John and Derek both glared at him, this was serious. Dixon wasn't phased by the glares from the younger men. Only in this screwed up world would one of the rarest blood types ever be present in three people in the same room.

"It's just funny; you two would be the only ones that could give blood to her." Dixon explained to the men before getting off his knees.

"Think about it a minute. The two of you share your rare blood type with this girl, a blood type you couldn't find before JD without looking really hard! Derek, after last week I think John's the only one that can do this now but I'm gonna need some stuff. John?" Dixon asked to make sure John was willing to give the girl his blood. John just nodded at him and Charlie sighed in dark humor before he moved from his knees, headed for the door, pouring a bottle of salt water over his hands to wash away the blood as he went. Dixon nodded as he headed out the door down to get a few things to set up the transfusion.

"John…thank you." Derek said after Dixon left. John smiled as much as he could ever bring himself to these days.

"My pleasure. It's your turn for the paperwork anyway." John laughed lightly at the expression of mock pain on Derek's face before he pulled the chair from the middle of the room over to the bed.

"Derek, why would she come to the command center instead of finding a higher ranking official?" John asked, wondering how this major knew to come to the command center. There was no way that Adam had told her how deep he was in.

"Intelligence, General Dent, two stars. He's her dad." Derek said after a moment pulling the info from his fuzzy memory. John cocked an eyebrow something he had picked up from the man next to him.

"Two star? Why don't I know his name?" John asked somewhat irritated he had to ask about the man. Derek smirked in good humor as Dixon returned.

"What and surround yourself with anyone lower than a four star?" Derek ducked the swat to the back of the head the younger man threw his way; John could be just like Kyle sometimes. John just sighed as he watched Charlie attach the needle to the Major's arm before sitting down in the chair next to her. Placing his arm out, the inside of his elbow facing Dixon in invitation.

"Stay put Cameron." John told his bodyguard, knowing she would stop Dixon without an order not to, after all the needle was actually going in his arm. Another difference between the substitute and his Cameron that didn't phase him anymore. Dixon smiled at John as he stuck him swiftly with a thoroughly practiced ease that had never left the man.

"Derek, you should inform her father of her return. He's bound to hear it sooner rather than later with our little conversation in command." John cautioned now rooted down to the chair for an annoying stay. Derek nodded, but Dixon was the one to talk first after that.

"Yeah, you've got people wondering what torture chamber 'your office' is. Her father?"

"Two star. Intelligence or so Derek tells me. Torture chamber?" John said examining the tube in his arm as his blood started flowing out his left arm with a dark smile. Sometimes his command style was taken to extremes, but hey it worked to be feared or their would be people killing other people instead of machines. Dixon's brow scrunched unexpectedly at that knowledge and both men noticed.

"That means her sister would be Stephanie Dent. She's a colonel under me. She was a nurse fresh from her residency on JD. She's one of my best doctors, I've mentioned her before she's due for promotion soon I think." Dixon stood, wiping the blood from his hands on a very over used wash cloth from his back pocket. Derek nodded remembering vaguely about a sister of J's, he'd meet her once but his memory was fuzzy. John looked between the men.

"Anything else I should know? How connected is this girl?" John looked over at J for the first time in a while to notice the pained expression had left her face and John didn't feel like he could take his eyes off her face now for some reason.

"Her mother is the head school teacher." Dixon said only knowing that because he had worked closely with Stephanie over the last years. Stephanie preferred not to talk about her sister which is why he didn't originally know her name. All he had ever known about her was that she was a soldier. In the medical ward it was better not to think about the fighting because their was so much death they saw on a daily basis now that thinking about the ones they can't help would dive anyone crazy.

"I don't suggest we tell him about this." Derek motioned to J's still form and the tube coming out of her right arm.

"Agreed." Dixon and John both said at the same time. Dixon smiled down at John, twenty five already Dixon couldn't believe it at times.

"Maybe we should explain that she's debriefing me on her mission. That ought to take care of it for a little while." John suggested thinking quickly trying to come up with a memory of General Dent.

"Oh thinking high of yourself aren't we?" Derek smirked leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. John rolled his eyes.

"Don't you have paperwork to do?" He asked seeing Derek sigh and haunch his shoulders dramatically before perking up. Derek pushed himself off the wall slowly to emphasize.

"Thanks for this kid." Derek looked John in the eye truly grateful to his nephew for acting quickly to save J for him. John nodded; Derek took that cue as his to leave. Dixon lingered to make sure the fusion was helping and working correctly, reminding John to flex his fist as he went.

"I probably shouldn't tell Stephanie." Dixon said to himself more to himself then John, but John disagreed with him.

"Actually I think you should because taking J here imminently sparked gossip. We don't take people back here so this is going to spread like wildfire. I really don't like the torture chamber analogy. I think if you told her the reason they are going to say she looked so bad is because it wasn't her blood it would be better." John said adverting his eyes, he knew Dixon hated lying, but given the circumstances it was lie or have everyone that cared for her panic and cement his bastard status to a new level. Panic wasn't something they could afford anymore, from a single family of people or others that would think he was becoming a dictator. Dixon just nodded with a sigh.

"I'll be back in twenty minutes since the flow is slow. It'll probably take longer then that with this shit but I'll be back anyway." Dixon told John before he headed out the door, to find J's sister was John's suspicion. John turned his head to the only other one in the room. Cameron was still leaning against the back wall of the room. It was easy for the others to forget she was there, but never him. John had found this Cameron two weeks after he had sent his Cameron back in time with future Kyle and Derek. That had been such a hard decision for him to make. He knew his younger self needed Cameron so he had sent her but not with out severe pain on his end. When he had found this Cameron he had programmed her to continue where his Cameron had left off, for the most part. One of the few things he changed was that instead of her primary directive being: Protect John Connor, it was now Follow John Connor's orders followed by protect John Connor. He figured he was old enough to decide what was good for him. He hadn't been back when he had first met Cameron.

"Wait outside, if anyone other than Ellison, Dixon, or Derek come asking or looking for me defer them to Derek." John ordered lightly. Cameron II gave him a nod moving out the door swiftly. That left John alone with this soldier he barely knew.

**(A/N Again guys, please Review, flames are welcome!!! It would help me a lot!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**(A/N Thanks SmallDL for the review I'm glad you like the first chapter, I hope you like this one as well. Let me know what you think!)**

John sighed leaning forward in his chair, running a hand through his hair. John turned again to stare up at this woman's face. Without the grimace she had a lovely face. Her skin was typical now days with the lack of sunlight, but it wasn't the stark contrast to her hair it was to most people. John leaned down, careful not to disturb the IV, and pulled a cloth from his pocket. Carefully he wiped J's forehead, clearing the sweat that was beginning to build and the dried blood as it looked like her mind had started taking a break from the pain and went into dream mode. John found himself once again staring. He found himself wishing he could see her green eyes at this moment. He didn't know how in the brief moment he'd seen her in the command center that he even remembered what her eye color was. However as the grunts started John knew she was still in pain.

"Shhh…" John whispered into J's ear as her head twitched in her nightmare. Something his mother had done once before she had died. John wiped her face once again before deciding he had to keep her still. This wasn't the greatest IV, it was the best they could manage in this post JD world, but it would still come out with to much movement. John slowly, one handedly shifted J's body to be half sitting up. With the speed of a turtle John stood while holding J up with his right hand he sat behind her on his bed. Once he was comfortable and he made sure the IV was still flowing he lowered her down, head in his lap. John's left thigh twitched as something cold came in contact with his camouflaged leg. John looked down and saw a metallic glint off the poor light coming from above his head. Reaching down John wove his fingers into J's hair, expecting it to be course and slick. To his surprise however J's hair was very soft, softer then he could have believed. It was dirty, everything was always dirty, but he found the knife quickly and removed it. He pulled the knife close to his face to see before he flicked it open and shut. John didn't notice that his left hand, instead of making routine fists was stroking J's hair and scalp; however he was grateful for the extra length in the tubing connecting them for the extra movement range.

It wasn't often that John got time to himself anymore and he found himself fidgeting with J's knife as his mind wandered to everything he'd learned about her today, most startling, her importance to Derek. Derek had been Kyle's substitute to him since he was fifteen. Between Derek and Charlie he's quota for father figures was full, but John had never thought Derek had left people behind. Derek had told him once that Kyle was all that had mattered to him. He'd said that as he watched his past self step into the time machine, but why hadn't he thought of this girl then? It only took John a moment to realize that the panic in Derek since this afternoon when Major Dent walked into the command center was rooted in his guilt. He cared for the girl, but he'd left her for Kyle. John knew the man deep down didn't want to hurt anyone. Sitting in that park watching the Reese boys play baseball on his sixteenth birthday with an adult Derek had drove that fact home. It just made John wonder what kind of girl he had in his sanctuary.

That brought on a whole other set of questions, like how had she ended up there? Adam Mason was the one person John had trusted with the truth about everything that had not been there before Judgment Day. The man had been a computer programmer, and a very good one. A reason they had all, including Adam, decided that he would head up code name: Rosetta Stone. A name they had given because they hoped with enough CPU's that they could figure out the change in the tech language Skynet had implemented and find the new defense grid before anymore of their more advanced terminators advanced. John knew Skynet had T-888's, but they weren't used for combat at this moment in time. Time being the key word. The T-888's of today were closer to Skynet it's self, or rather the Turk. John wasn't lost in thought enough to not notice the door open however.

"Dixon." He called out using his Commander Connor voice, in case it was Cam II with a message from someone behind her.

"John." Charlie confirmed to him as he shut the door, taking in the new position of his patient and his adoptive son.

"Nightmare." John told him swiftly, taking in Charlie's nod as he came closer.

"Sorry it took so long. It took a while for me to calm Stephanie down, the rumor's spread faster then we thought. It's like a shock wave, everyone is talking about a Major being invited to your 'office'" Charlie smirked at the last part as John sighed while he rolled his eyes. Only the men he trusted knew that office meant quarters since they couldn't very well be themselves in front of just anyone.

"That bad?" John asked, glancing at his watch realizing that twenty minutes had turned into an hour and half without John noticing. Charlie just nodded as he checked the IV gently before he sat in John's abandoned chair.

"John, you alright?" Charlie asked, knowing John was never really alright since his mom's death well before Judgment Day. John had taken off after Sarah's death, at age eighteen, one year before Judgment Day, only to find him, Derek, and James in the tunnels under LA the day after Judgment Day with a broken ankle, but otherwise unharmed, Cameron and Katherine in tow.

"I'm thinking about Derek." John told him, they had very little secrets and John didn't see the need to lie to him.

"He's enjoying running things more then he usually would, I'll admit that but he's trying to squash this rumor to, the rumor he's spreading isn't great either though." Charlie smiled, teasing the young man, who groaned.

"What is it?" John asked not really wanted to know, moving his hand from J's hair aware he hadn't really stopped running his hand through her hair since Charlie came in.

"His rumor is that your office is below the command center so you can keep an eye on everyone when your not there through invisible cameras. It's got the entire command looking over their shoulders." Charlie smirked at the look on John's face, no way in hell this man was one tenth the bastard he pretended to be. John burst out laughing, a gut wrenching laugh.

"He better be careful or people are going to start thinking I'm a dictator." John sighed after he'd stopped laughing, when his stomach hurt. John smiled a little at the huge smile on Charlie's face. Charlie was so happy to see John laugh he'd forgotten his patient in front of him, who groaned, not happy to be moved in her unconscious state as John laughed so hard. However the woman didn't stir, both men were glad.

"It's a very good thing the flow is so slow, or you'd have passed out by now. I think that's enough, we can't have you out of commission." Charlie told John, still smiling before he moved to remove the tube from the young man's arm. John just watched him as he worked, not wanting to move. He knew the moment he stepped outside the lightness he felt right now would be pushed to the very bottom of his existence.

"We will have to wait till she wakes up to know why Adam made her his second. I know he went out with at least four colonels with him. Charlene's boy went with him too. I told you about that right?" John shook his head no as he rolled his sleeve down over his elbow; he couldn't remember wearing anything but his uniform jacket and cameo anymore.

"Charlene's one of my nurses. She took the Spartan root with motherhood I guess, you know come back with your gun or your blood on it. Disturbing a mother can do that, but after three dead I figure she's given up. They were the reason she became a nurse, they died of Malaria few years back. Anyway, Adam was with me when she told her son that, he took him in his unit thinking he could maybe keep the kid alive." John glanced down at the floor, it was a sad fact that people were starting to give up hope, one of the reason they cling to, and more like choked, John.

"Well from what J said earlier he was one of the last ones left when Adam died. That says a lot about the boy." John nodded his head, trying to get the image of his own mother signing him away out of his head. He had forgiven her, but it was something he'd never forget. John also squashed the memory of the little baby boy's face that came to his memory, not pausing for more then half a second.

"Anything from James?" John asked, wondering if Ellison and the techs had managed to get anything out of the CPU's yet. He would have to go down there and lend them a hand, Derek could stand being in control a little longer.

"Nope, think he's waiting for you though." Dixon told him, getting out of the chair with a dry sigh.

"Can she be left alone?" John asked, not at all feeling like leaving J by herself, not because he wasn't comfortable with her in his quarters, but because she looked so beat up. Dixon frowned a second.

"Probably not. Leaving a 600 would most likely freak her out when she wakes up." Dixon pondered out loud.

"James, never was one for computers, maybe we could just trade places." John said, feeling the need to protect J, but not trusting anyone else in his space with confidential documents everywhere.

"True, he should only have to watch her. Anything happens he can come get me. I'll go get him." Dixon said patting John's shoulder as he paced out the door. John sighed before he slowly inched himself off the bed and a way from the soldier. James wouldn't do anything to her; if nothing else mattered Ellison was a man of God. He had been before Judgment day, but his faith had only grown after. That puzzled John, but to each his own. John sighed as he moved J's gear from the floor to his desk. He'd almost forgotten how heavy the average gear of a combat soldier was, not that it was hard for him to pick up.

"No…stop…" she mumbled from across the room catching John's attention momentarily. He took another look at woman on his bed, her face was contorted in pain and extremely pale. He wasn't quite sure what to do at the moment. The most pressing subject was the CPU's Adam had died for, but what would happen after that? This girl had just transcended the military protocol laws by being the only survivor of Rosetta Stone. Either she would have to be reassigned to command or be put topside. Neither were the greatest options, but perhaps having her in command wouldn't be so bad. He'd look up her combat history after a little while with the techs and then he'd decide what to promote her to. It seemed right to promote her after this, other actions after that would be tricky. But the one question bothering him was how had they managed to take out so many terminators? Their mission had been for ten CPU's and they had expected a ninety percent fatality rate with that assignment, the only pause they'd had for Adam leading the mission.

"John?" Ellison asked from the doorway, after a while, catching John off guard, a very rare occurrence. John didn't know how long he'd been standing there staring at her gear pack. John nodded to Ellison before he grabbed Dent's uniform jacket, blood covering the garment, but didn't faze him in the slightest as he left the room when Ellison sat down next to Major Dent.

"I'll be back when the techs are up to speed." John said, pausing in the doorway. James nodded at him, already having taken several papers from the floor and going over them. John smirked; maybe James would finish all the unfinished work he had lying around.

John closed the door quietly, but he headed in the opposite direction of the tech ward. Instead he headed to the few seamstresses they had, he figured he'd assign her to command, if not because of the mission she'd just completed then to help Derek's peace of mind. However to have her in command he was going to need to skip a few ranks in her promotion. All twenty of the women froze what they were doing to stare at him. John just moved to the closest one and handed her the bloody garment.

"Birds." John said with a feint nod before he left. Birds being what the eagles of the colonels were called. John then moved to the tech ward, flexing his stiff elbow once as he went. He was in for a long day and he knew it, feeling a quart low wasn't going to help. Soldiers saluted him as he passed on his way into one of the further reaches of the underground cold war complex. He didn't pay them any mind, instead he ran through programming data in his head. Skynet had changed their language, hence the need for new terminator CPU's, from newly made terminators off the "point of no return". It seemed that they had changed in preparation of their new models, the T1000. He was so close to figuring out how the Turk was giving these new specialized orders he could taste it. It was a scary thought that they had terminator's walking around with specific missions out of the ordinary that were modified to switch between two or more so they never shut down in waiting.

"Sir, General Ellison announced you'd be leading the decode process of these new specimens, I've set you up over here." A graying haired man said to him, a one star general by his jacket. John nodded to the soldier, glad to see he wasn't cowering with the rest of the techs, who would never survive a fire fight by the look of them.

"What's your progress General?" John asked sitting down before the computer console, feeling in his element, he knew more about Skynet's programming then Skynet did usually, however he was getting frustrated since his experiences in the past were running out at this point. All of the advantages his knowledge had created were fading as Skynet caught up.

"Sir we have no real progress to report, however I expect a full report to be available within an hour." He said, easily standing in an at attention position that John thought was an ingrained behavior, this man was used to the gesture before JD that was obvious.

"Very well, general dismissed." John said booting up the computing equipment in front of him. He discreetly watched the room as he waited for the equipment to reach optimal outputs. He was a little shocked when he learned the name of the soldier he'd just been talking to when the gossip of the major he'd just saved reached the isolated computer techs.

"Commander Connor? Permission to speak freely?" The General asked John a half hour into John's work on the T1000 CPU. John looked at the fierce look across the man, easily thirty years his senior with veiled curiosity. Not many people had the balls to address him, let alone want to speak their mind.

"Granted, what can I do for you general?" He asked, voice steeled to tell him that John wouldn't take bullshit, but he would listen to what he wanted to say.

"A disturbing rumor just hit my ears. My question is if my daughter, Major Dent is alright?" The man held his face to be steeled like John's and John found himself kicking himself for not noticing the name on the man's uniform before now. John heard Derek's voice in the back of his mind tell him that Major Dent's father was a general in intelligence…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Standard Disclaimer applies**

**(Thank you for the reviews. I like that you like the story so far, but I forgot to tell you all that this is going to be a fairly long story, the real plot changer doesn't even happen until the next chapter when they start to see why J could be the key to destorying Skynet once and for all.)**

"Major Dent is resting after a de-brief on her current mission until her next assignment. I expect that progress report in the next twenty minutes general." John said, his voice easily switching to the velvet tones that Derek told him was one of his tells. John gave the man a hard look, telling him that he spoke the truth, but the conversation was over. John was inwardly glad when the man understood what he was saying. He'd indirectly told the general everything he needed to know. If he'd said she was resting that could have meant anything, but by telling the general that Major Dent was in between assignments suggested she was fit for duty; at least that was the way John thought of it.

"Sir, yes Sir." General Dent saluted, his eyes ever so slightly twitching. John sighed at the classic tell he noticed in a lot of the command soldiers, especially when Cameron was standing behind him.

"And general, your uniforms out of date." John said as an after thought as to one of the reasons he didn't see the name in the first place since general Dent was a two star, not a one star that his uniform suggested. John's tone was in between reprimand and observation which is why John inwardly smirked as the general lightly flinched in embarrassment since he hadn't realized it himself apparently.

"Sir, yes, Sir." General Dent said staying in his attention stance.

"Dismissed." John said flicking his eyes back to the monitor in front of him quickly, inwardly feeling awkward, but not letting it sink into his body language. That had been weird, but John let it go as he focused his attention back onto the task at hand. He was going to find that code if he had to spend the next week staring at that computer screen. He barely registered the awed looks and whispers around him from the techs as he whizzed through the tech language after the first twenty minutes. He'd never looked at a T-1000 CPU, but it was turning out to be very similar to a T-888's. It appeared to John that it was the endoskeleton that made this model more deadly, not the actual artificial intelligence itself. John didn't look up from his work when general Dent put the progress report next to him without so much as a word.

John's eyes were beginning to hurt after a few hours of decoding the CPU in front of him. He hadn't touched the memory cache yet, figuring he'd save his eyes and mind from the destruction of his friend for the time being, but what J had told him about the decommissioning of this CPU was bugging him slightly. It had been five hours and their were five progress reports lying untouched next to him when he found what he was looking for. The code was hidden in the reflex programming of all places, only it was the CPU's reflex not the endoskeleton. He couldn't believe he'd missed it. It appeared that Skynet was finally learning from its mistakes. It was programming several missions into a CPU, like he'd done with Cameron. One replaced the other because the end of a specific mission started the next one because the first mission was never really over until all the missions were complete. The last mission objective programmed into this CPU was the standard mission to destroy all organic life forms which he was preventing. This mission would never be finished in all reality.

"Fuck." John cursed under his breath lightly. This meant they'd have more terminators then normal to deal with since none of them would be shutting down in wait after they'd finished their missions. This was going to cost a lot more lives and he sighed inwardly, the thought of more orphaned children coming to his mind. Katherine's loss coming to him once again, the perfect example of the innocents that war killed. The bullet hole scar in his side twitched lightly at the memory of one of his near death experiences.

"General Dent." John called out, still tracing the lines of coded data in front of him, pushing all else to the back burner. John narrowed his eyes, anger for not preventing this sinking into his shoulders.

"Sir?" the elder man asked in his military stance that John thought was more natural these days then standing straight.

"We have a problem; focus all available resources on this." John commanded getting up, back and legs stiff, but not showing any sign of fatigue. A practice he'd honed to an art form. John pointed to the single line of coded data on the screen as the general approached at the gesture. John almost sighed as the general cursed out loud.

"Damn it to hell!" General Dent exclaimed under his breath, hoping commander Connor hadn't heard him since the young man was only a statue of emotionless and he felt he'd probably reprimand him, but general Dent was thinking about J and this new information. He wasn't a complete fool, his daughter goes out on a classified mission, comes back alone and they suddenly have twenty one new CPU units. He knew one plus one plus one equaled three in a matter of speaking. With this new code Skynet had upped its game since according to some friends of his they were starting to push the line into Skynet territory.

"Sir yes Sir." General Dent said, leaning back up into his appropriate stance. John sat back down soundlessly, taking a CD from his gear absently. John downloaded the memory cache he didn't have the energy to look at to the CD. He'd look at it, he promised himself he would. He owed Adam that, but not now. He was starting to feel more tired then he had in a while, he figured it was the loss of blood from earlier. It being nineteen hundred hours didn't help, since it had been his turn to preside over the stasis period. He didn't like stasis duty, the job he shared with Dixon, Ellison, and Derek. It was nice to put command into a sleep mode of activity at certain times of night, but having someone constantly on hand wasn't much fun, unless it was one of the others. He'd effectively been up twenty six hours and a quart low. He was amazed he'd stayed vertical as he walked out of the tech ward toward command to fill in Derek, who would fill in Charley when they changed shifts.

John found Derek glaring at a piece of paper in front of him on top of the United States map they used to track Skynet as well as hid the documents contained within the steel table his mother had built right before she passed away. The top opened to a secret compartment where they kept the rosters of the resistance as well as the more crucial confidential documents. Sarah had made sure she engraved the words, 'No Fate' in the center of the compartment.

"They copied what I did to Cameron." John told him as he leaned on the table, speaking in a whisper to Derek, who barely looked up.

"Shit." Derek cursed, throwing the papers down causing a loud metallic echo that turned heads, no one catching the whispered curse. John narrowed his eyes in a silent caution.

"What is it?" John asked, taking the papers from Derek tiredly as the thought that he didn't really have a bunk right now crossing his mind as sleep seemed to tempt him, though no one noticed except Derek, but he didn't mention the small sag in his nephew's shoulders.

"T-1000's are popping up everywhere. Look at this, four of them spotted in the last week alone." Derek said pointing to the testimonials. John inwardly sighed, knowing the eyes of the computer techs on the second story landing above him were always on him when he was in command.

"They must have figured out we were taking the supplies for a reason." John whispered clenching his fists to stop from rubbing his face.

"No shit." Derek growled lowly.

"So we keep taking the supplies, I don't see anything else we can do except amend the training to include the bastards." John said wondering if J was feeling better absently since Derek was overly stressed by the news of something he should know they can't do anything about.

"Charley says she'll be fine Derek." John said noticing the sink in his uncle's shoulders before he squared them at the news.

"I know kid." Derek whispered back, both leaning over the map pretending to be discussing a random point of the highly penciled area of California.

"There's a cot in your old office kid. I bet you forgot." Derek smirked lightly so only John caught it because he knew John was tired. John realized he had forgotten about the lone cot next to the beat up desk and wooden chair in the only actual room that connected to the inner circle of the command center. John pointed at a random point on the map in front of him to cover up the embarrassment that made him feel like a teenager again for a minute.

"Why don't you catch some shut eye? Charley 'll be here in a little anyway and I'll send James back to the dungeon." Derek joked lightly, he never was one for computers. John nodded lightly, moving away without saying a word, never needing to it seemed.

John rolled his eyes once the door shut behind him as the eyes were finally off him. He spied the cot he'd used when they first set up the command center. This had been his mother's room at the end of her life. They 'd moved down here when Judgment Day had gotten closer in order to plot and make sure they were covered if they hadn't stopped Skynet like they almost thought they had. It wasn't until later that he realized his mother hadn't believed either that they had stopped JD, when the T-600 had pulled the coffin full of weapons from the fake grave of Sarah Connor. John took off his gear pack, though lighter then a combat soldiers it was still slightly bulky. The others had slowly stopped wearing theirs, but John had never been able to stop wearing the gear. He reasoned it was so the resistance saw him as a soldier instead of a dictator sending others out to get killed without willing to die themselves.

John then through his uniform jacket next to the pack, noticing the blood stains on both for the first time. John took one of his bottles of purified sea water and used it to lessen the fast acting stains. They weren't the first on him and he doubted they would be the last, but it freaked people out when they thought he was hurt. He was their "hope" and truth be told he just wanted to run topside and scream until he couldn't anymore. He glanced at the pocket of his gear that held the CD with the T-1000's memory cache wondering if that had been how Adam had felt when he'd all but jumped down their throats to get out of command and that the suicide mission they'd given him. Bedell crossed his mind absently, wondering if he'd never saved him how things would have turned out. Maybe Katherine and her twins would still be alive; John shook his head. He hated that his private ghosts seemed to creep up on him when he was to tired to fight. He thought about his mom and what she would tell him to do as he laid down, the soldier that had dropped in his lap crossing his mind as he fell unconscious.

J woke in a sweat, pain coursing through her entire body. She'd disconnected the pain so long that it was biting her back powerfully. She didn't recognize her surroundings at first, she almost panicked since she hadn't known anything except battle for the last couple months and the room she was in was dark from what she could tell from not moving. Her eyes were open, but she was staring at a concrete ceiling. The rumors of experiments done by the terminators flashed in her mind and she almost panicked again, but she tried to calm herself. Her entire body was sending alert messages to her brain, the nerves long damned over flowing.

"Ahh…" She let out, a tear escaping her left eye as she regretted the sound she'd made, a movement to her right startling her.

"Major, it's General Baum. Do you remember where you are?" She closed her eyes once again, more pain assaulting her. She tired to remember, she needed to remember before she was out again. Something was wrong she knew it, but what was it she didn't know. She felt like there was a static electricity in the air that had woken her despite the pain that gripped her.

"Major Dent, J. I need you to look this way." Derek said from his seat on the chair next to her, worried that she'd woken up. Charley had told him when he showed up for stasis duty at twenty one hundred that J should be out for at least six or seven hours with the extent of damage she'd endured. It had only been five by Derek's calculations.

"Some…something…'s wrong…" J gasped out before her eyes rolled back in her head, as the disconnected pain assaulted her again with a wave of exhaustion so profound that she couldn't fight it.

"J?...J?" Derek said, standing over her the best he could in the dark lit room, emotionless reasoning sinking into his brain. He needed to go get Dixon, there was no reason she should have woken up, but she was out cold again, except the occasional twitch he'd been noticing over the last couple of hours.

"Fuck." Derek cursed as the alarm sounded around command and he heard a few screams. He grabbed the standard issue plasma rifle from under the bunk, opening the door, but not moving from his guard position despite the urge to run to the disturbance like John would do.

John rolled to his feet, the plasma rifle under the long forgotten desk in his hands instantly. He through the door open as some nameless computer tech screamed when the alarm screeched. John noticed the adrenaline coursing through his veins keeping him alert as he moved to the figure of Charley, also armed.

"What the hell?" John yelled over the commotion, not aware that he was without his uniform jacket until he reached Charley, but he dismissed it as an insignificant fact.

"Rogue." Charley called. John cursed, looking at Cameron behind him. The terminator having been following him all day, but until then he hadn't given her a second thought. Cameron was beside the door to the room he'd just been in and she didn't seem to be moving, which meant that the threat wasn't in the command center.

"Civilian sector." Charley said, moving to run out the command entrance, John on his heels, Cameron behind them. John lowered his weapon only when he stood over the remains of a T-600 that had a half exposed CPU at the entrance to the civilian sector of the barracks. He almost sighed as Cameron bent and retrieved the CPU, giving it to John where he imagined an almost sad look on her face. He turned away from his bodyguard, wanting to forget she was there once again.

"Ellison?" John asked James, lacing his voice with anger though he felt none for the elder man, but realizing he should probably be mad though no one had been killed this time.

"You'll have a full report and the person responsible in an hour sir." James addressed John, calling him sir for good measure since they were all standing among civilians and at least forty soldiers. John didn't say anything as he turned, hoisting his plasma rifle onto his shoulder, the metal feeling cold against the skin of his bare arm. John kept his eyes straight ahead, aware everyone around him was taking his march to indicate anger, but it was really just exhaustion and wanting to be back in his bunk. He knew James would find out what had happened and he was just to tired to care that he was publicly leaving this investigation to his father figures. John narrowed his eyes at the door of his old office, instead taking the only other exit from the room, heading for his normal quarters, finding Derek on edge like he expected.

"Civilian Sector, one T-600 no causalities. James' got it." John said watching Derek shoulder his weapon as he spoke, turning on his heel to go back the way he'd come without another word. Derek looked back into the room at J a moment before he evaluated whether he needed to go get Dixon, but he decided against it and settled back next to her in the chair, replacing the rifle to it's rightful position next to all John's other more pointless bullet weapons. Derek felt slightly on edge still, like they were missing something. Something was going on and he didn't know what it was. It was the feeling he got right before he'd been sent back in time. Like he just knew he was missing something important but he couldn't name it for the life of him.

John left Cameron standing outside the entrance to his old office were he almost sat fell down on the thin cot before James walked into the room with an amused expression before John realized he still had the terminator's CPU. John just groaned in annoyance it just seemed like one thing and then another. John removed the damaged CPU from his cameo pocket and handed it to Ellison before he almost threw himself down on the ground.

"I take it you'll care more in the morning?" James asked, slight humor in his voice as he crossed his arms lightly, the CPU in his right hand weighing heavy on his guilt complex.

"I'm relieved there are no casualties and I'm sure you can handle it. I've had enough Skynet speech for one day." John yawned, weighing the option of having Cameron chance the general rule; four stars have access to him in enclosed spaces and no one else. He considered changing that to no one, maybe then he'd get some sleep.

"You went through the T-000 right?" Ellison asked, taking in John's next yawn, raising an eyebrow at the laced combat boots still on John's feet as the young man drifted between exhausted sleep and his responsibilities. His responsibilities would win, but only until James left and he knew it.

"Anything out of the ordinary besides the reflex program?" James asked, fidgeting with the CPU lightly as John yawned again.

"No, I haven't looked through the memory cache yet. I'll check it in the morning, but I don't think I'm going to find anything. Can I see that?" John asked taking the CPU back from James for a moment to study it.

"This has been tampered with, metal marks over the processor, I can barely see it with the plasma bolt through it, but I think someone was messing around when they shouldn't have. One way ticket topside." John sighed, but halfway another yawn hit him and James rolled his eyes as he took the CPU back from the young man nodding.

"Alright. We'll try not to wake you this time." He joked before he left and John laid on his back and stared at the ceiling, not bothering to turn off the single light bulb above the desk to his left before he closed his eyes, knowing he better take advantage of every minute he got .

**(A/N To be honest I'm still not quite sure I want to continue writing this. I have the later chapters written, but it's the beginning I haven't really written until now. This started out as a for my eyes only story so I never really thought about putting it up until now...)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A/N I've decided to continue uploading this for now. I'm glad at least a few of you liked it, though I'm afraid here is where you might jump off with the plot because it turns somewhat supernatural, though in the chapters that follow I explain it using science. Dream, thanks for the quote, I like it. It fits so well. Let me know what you all think. Standard disclaimer applies. Please RandR)**

"Major? Major I need you to wake up now." J heard, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She felt a strange calm despite the pain she was still in after she realized where she was a split second later. J groaned; she hurt why weren't they leaving her alone? She was safe in the center of the command center, why were they bothering her now? Or had she been captured by the machines and they were trying to trick her?

"Major, I know you're awake." She heard a male voice chuckle lightly above her and she opened her eyes slowly to the sound almost sure she'd been capture now. She hadn't heard laughter in a long while and it seemed strange coming from General Dixon. J tried to sit up slowly, but gritted her teeth as her shoulders screamed with the slight movement.

"Fuck." She cursed softly, not wanting to speak out of turn around the general, but she couldn't resist the grimace that followed either.

"Don't move Major. Do you know where you are?" Charley asked stifling a yawn, but couldn't help his small smile that he'd managed to cut off the infection she'd had yesterday before it spread and caused a higher fever.

"Vaguely, Sir. I'm in command, Sir." J said blinking away the unfamiliar sand from the inner corners of her eyes. She felt rested, a feeling she'd missed since before Judgment Day.

"Well that's a start. Do you remember me telling you we didn't operate on military protocol in here?" Dixon asked her, leaning his forearms on his knees, looking her over carefully, and waiting for Derek to wake up beside him on the floor. J closed her eyes a minute, her dream of being surrounded by all four of the inner circle and John's face came to her lightly. She had a hard time believing it was real, but the sight of waking up to General Dixon confirmed it wasn't a dream. Either that or the machines had cloned Dixon's face, something they hadn't done before but she wouldn't but it past them. Though nothing was imaginary about the pain she was still in.

"Yes." She bit her tongue lightly to keep from addressing him as sir. J thought she'd let loose a string of more curses, but she held her tongue out of reflex when she heard someone else in the room groan.

"It's just Derek, don't worry. You've been out quite a while J. You've had a transfusion so you'll feel out of sorts for a while. You need to stay here until we can get everything sorted, alright?" Charley said slowly, not sure just how awake J really was by the paleness of her face and her eyes that didn't open past half way.

"Yes Sir." J said, "Mission successful?" She asked thinking through all the fallen comrades she'd had on her last mission now, since she'd handed it off it no longer counted as her current mission. Not really having a specific mission bothered her, she didn't like being idle.

"Yes Major." Charley said; an unfamiliar teasing element to his voice. J almost recognized it. It seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. J blinked a few more times as Dixon rose to lightly kick Derek in the side. J watched Derek respond with all the grace of a real combat soldier, none.

"What the Fuck Charley?" Derek half whispered, well he seemed to know what was going on, something J didn't and it bothered her. Charley just tilted his head toward J lightly before moving back to the girl to check her bandages before he bunked down. He didn't expect the massive jerk that coursed through her when he touched her unharmed forearm.

"Shit!" She cursed, grinding her teeth as the pain assaulted her like a T-888.

"What the hell did you do?" Derek asked, his tone suggesting impatience at best as he glared at Dixon out of reflex as J steeled herself to stop from moving, invoking more pain.

"J, did that hurt? All I did was touch your arm, J. I'm going to need to check your bandages, but if your arm hurts I need to know." Charley said seriously, ignoring Derek altogether. If the light touch he'd put on her arm to tell her he was going to be in her space hurt he had a major problem. That indicated nerve damage or an internal injury he hadn't accounted for, though the odds of an internal injury in her arm were laughable.

"No, it happens when someone touches me. The shiver hurt, not the hand." J explained slowly, clenching her jaw to ward away the memories she'd just drudged up. No, she couldn't panic now. She was in the safest place left in the world and she would not let the memories of what that bastard had done to her plague her. She closed her eyes to avoid Dixon's searching eyes.

"How long has that gone on?" Dixon asked with all the seriousness of a doctor diagnosing death; she meant to think disease, but in today's world a disease literally meant death. J breathed in through her nose as the pain faded into a dull ache. She really didn't want to answer him. She had her demons, well admittedly she really only had one, but he was big and T-1001 scary.

"It's a pre-JD condition, is it relevant?" J asked, a little bit of bitterness creeping into her voice. She survived without really touching people and she'd stay that way whether he thought it was healthy or not. She'd had doctors tell her it wasn't healthy, pre-and post JD. She just as soon jump in front of a T-888 then open that old wound again. J didn't catch the look of question that passed from Charley to Derek, or Derek's nodd in answer.

_Well at least she was telling the truth according to Derek that is_, Charley thought. He'd come across many soldier with this problem after the effects of JD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder manifested in different ways for different people but he couldn't remember a case of pre-JD PTSD ever crossing his path. PTSD was a common problem among the "retired" soldiers in the resistance. These men and women had fought at least two or three years and were just too tired to keep fighting so they dropped out of the actual resistance. Many of these men and women lived as civilians, rummaging through muck, moving from sector to sector. Horrified screams were common place coming from the infirmary ward now since many of these men and women bunk near by to make sure they don't go off on someone. It was dangerous to cross paths with a person in their own flashback for lack of a better word. Many times the suffered couldn't tell their friends from their enemies, or even a human from a metal for that matter.

Charley looked back at J's bandages lightly. She had some light bleeding, but he could give her a little while to wake up before he changed them. Knowing now that she had PTSD he wanted to be more careful. She seemed fine, even when she was bleeding to death, so why the freak out now he wondered? Then it hit him, he could find out. He didn't need to ask the questions to J, who seemed unresponsive at the moment.

"Okay J, why don't we let you open your eyes a little bit and I'll be back to change your bandages. Okay? You should be good for another couple of hours, max though." Charley said, his voice dropping an octave to try to be more comforting as he lightly tilted his head for Derek to follow him to the door. The man needed to know what not to do right now since J's eyes were still blinking. She looked like she was fighting to stay awake when she didn't answer him.

"Keep her talking, it should help. Try not to touch her since that seems to be the trigger." Charley whispered.

"Wait, were the hell are you going?" Derek whispered back, half panicked. What if he opened his big mouth because of his guilt issues?

"Stephanie…"Charley waited for Derek to understand, but instead rolled his eyes when he didn't, "Her sister's a doctor here. I'm going to get the particulars of her sister's condition. Physical pain is easy, mental is the hard part. I need to make sure she's not going to blast us at the slightest touch." Charley explained.

"I doubt that Dixon. Come on, she wouldn't have gotten through five years of soldier if she blew everyone's heads off." Derek sighed, but not putting up much of a fight.

"Right." Charley teased sarcastically, to which Derek frowned.

"I'll stop in on Ellison as well. John should be up by now to." Charley said before moving out of the doorway, Derek looking back at J hesitantly, but he moved back into the room and sat beside her, leaving the door open.

"So how's the weather topside?" Charley heard Derek asked and he stifled a grin at the pure idiocy Derek could come up with. Charley had never really been around Derek except when his wife had died before JD, but he found he liked the man. They'd gotten along only because of John in the beginning, but now it seemed they were thinking on the same wave length at least some of the time.

Charley made his way through the hallway and into command quickly, his age weighing down on his shoulders. Charley spotted Ellison where he expected him, the table. Ellison wasn't known to move from the steel table when he was in command. The mans other trait of being more silent then the rest to the computer techs had earned him a reputation as well as being like that table Sarah had built.

"John awake?" Charley asked Ellison in a half whisper.

"Yeah, he moved some computer equipment to the old office about half hour after you left." James confessed. Charley nodded, that boy never did sleep when they told him to. He had so much of Sarah in him it was insane.

"Thanks. Derek's with J, she's got a condition I'm about to go check on, but I'll let him know she's up." Charley said, suppressing the urge to pat James' back in parting, some habits never died.

"Hey, he promoted her to colonel by the way." James whispered back, Charley nodded, he'd expected the big promotion, what would happen after that none of them knew. Charley thanked Ellison and barely blinked as he opened the door and walked past Cameron into the isolated room.

"Got a minute?" Charley asked hearing the sounds of plasma fire from John's monitor. John had a look of deep concentration across his face and Charley couldn't help comparing him to Sarah. John crossed both his arms and leaned back in his chair as far as he could, a frown replacing the determination.

"Yeah, what's up?" John replied staring at the faces of J, Adam, and what he'd learned was Private Henderson through the eyes of the T-1000's memory cache.

"J's awake. I've got something I need to check before you go see her, but Derek's with her. Anything good?" Charley asked, never having understood anything to do with computers beside the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys.

"K, hey I promoted her to colonel by the way." John said sighing at the mention of the soldier he was staring at on the screen. She was shouting at the young man helping her out of the wreckage. He'd just gotten to the one part in the entire memory cache he needed to really see. He'd discovered a new factory location through the cache, but he was more interested in the battle he was about to see.

"James told me. I'm going to check on this then bunk for an hour or so. Don't switch with Derek till I'm back alright?" Charley warned, but it sounded more like a parental order and they both knew it, though John didn't mind so much anymore. He knew Charley meant well, and Charley knew he'd do what ever he pleased.

"K, I'm almost through the chip. I'd be done if…" John left the sentence hanging in good humor, something he knew he wouldn't have after watching Adam die. Charley just mock saluted him quickly before he turned on his heal and left. John looked at the closed door a moment before sighing, cursing under his breath as he turned his eyes back to the monitor and hit play.

"Run!" J screamed at the young man John almost felt sorry for. He frowned as a plasma bolt from the weapon the T-1000 was carrying missed the woman by mere inches, burning her left arm as she, Adam, and Henderson tried to retreat, something he already knew wouldn't have worked. He heard the screams through the un-human hearing abilities of the T-1000. He saw the data statistics fly at the top of the screen but he kept his eyes focused on the red dyed screen. He watched the boy implode a meter or so away from J and Adam. He didn't need the terminators eyes to see the wheels turning in Adam's head, or the slight bulge in J's gear where she'd kept the metal CPU's tapped to her skin.

"Dent." Adam had screamed at the girl, causing the terminator to run through its programmed list of detainees until it came up with J's name and camp. John paused the playback for a moment with that information. He knew you could tell a lot about a person depending on which work camp they had been taken to. She'd been taken to Eon, the same work camp he'd liberated personally because of Derek. Eon was one of the first camps they'd liberated, it had been on the retreat from the liberation of Eon that they'd found 'Uncle Bob', one and two. That felt like so long ago now. Century had been the next liberation, since he'd gotten separated from Cameron and she'd reported his position to the others, but John didn't want to think about that at the moment. He sighed, running a hand over his face, vaguely realizing he needed to shave before he hit the play button.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Had been Adam Mason's last words. John watched as the terminator raised its fist and shattered Adam's skull as easy as one plus one equals two. John sighed again, he knew what he was watching, but he still couldn't wrap his head around it. He paused it again to rub his eyes before he took in where J was and what the read outs for the T-1000 had been. The T-1000 had calculated a .00018 percent chance that J would inflict harm to its networking, let alone deactivate it. John took in the retreat scenario statistics and the T-1000's proceed decision with a morbid curiosity. He'd known she'd taken the terminator on alone, or so she'd said, but how exactly did she do it? That was the question that plagued him so he hit play once again, noticing the HK that was flying seven clicks out through the CPU's stored data.

"Fuck you metal bastard! Stop it! I'm going to terminate you mother fucker!" J had yelled, charging the terminator. Was she suicidal? Hadn't Adam just given his life so she could retreat and take the CPU's to him and James? Her disregard for Adam's sacrifice made him angry beyond words, but then he noticed something in the constant statistics data running at the top of the screen. There was an anomaly in the data and the terminator went into stasis mode!?! John's eyes widened as he hit the rewind button harder then necessary. John focused on the data on the top of the screen for five minutes prior to the anomaly. Nothing indicated that the terminator would go into stasis mode or allow J to terminate it. That was when John's jaw loosened, that was it. J was the anomaly, she'd indirectly ordered the terminator to stop moving.

"Holy Fucking Shit!" John exclaimed in wonder, loud enough he was sure at least Cameron heard him, but he didn't care. Could this be real? Was an enemy terminator responding to the commands of a human, or was it just this one terminator or this one soldier? John hit the rewind button so many time he thought he might break it. Every time the same anomaly occurred. The only thing he could think of was a conversation wave link. A radio wave in the air that was on the same frequency as the terminator's CPU was on, but after John had dispatched the T-600's using the frequency they operated on, terminators now operated on different frequencies. Never the same frequency twice, the bastards knew frequencies he'd never even heard of, frequencies un-named since they'd never been decoded before. Just as well the energy behind the surge would have to be large to alter the programming of the actual CPU, even if for just a moment!

"Shit." John cursed again, running through the possibly points of origin in his head. There weren't many, only three beings were in the area. He eliminated the option of a long range attack since the energy that would have been needed wouldn't have carried farther then the HK flying near the T-1000. No HK programming could have done this, and he seriously doubted Skynet was spending its days creating weapons to be used in its own destruction. That left the T-1000 and Geminite Dent. Both options seemed absurd, but John also considered that Adam wouldn't have broken military protocol unless he head extreme faith in J. Maybe he'd seen this anomaly happen around Dent before his untimely demise? John rubbed his eyes tiredly, was he crazy? Was he seriously thinking a human could overpower and control a terminator CPU on a nano byte scale, but was there any other option?


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N I apologize for the wait but I'm swamped with homework, it quadruples when you hit upper classmen in college, and I haven't been able to write this except when I should be sleeping. Thanks to my reviewers for bringing this back to mind. When I said I'd written this as well I said I had the end written not the whole thing by the way. This is going to be really long and I only have the LAST four or so chapters written. Just wanted to clear up any misunderstanding. Thank you for reviewing and please keep it up! As you can see it helps a lot!! :)**

Charley inwardly sighed as he left John in the old office Sarah had used and made his way into the infirmary to find his target. He found this whole situation odd. What puzzled Charley was what could have been so bad for it to out weigh Judgment Day in a person's psyche? He almost didn't want to know, but he also couldn't take the chance that she'd hurt John. Despite what the kid, or rather young man thought Sarah had made all three men in his life promise to protect and watch over him. John was the leader of the resistance and they would keep it that way because that was what humanity needed, but the instant he wasn't needed they would all retire somewhere were they couldn't be bothered with the weight of the world. Charley almost laughed at the thought of retirement as he crossed into the threshold of the infirmary, injured soldiers groaning all around him in the labyrinth of hallways lined with bunks and gurney's stolen from crumpling hospitals.

It was a sad fact that doctors were in short supply these days and had mostly been recalled to the main facility and inner facilities surrounding it because of necessity. Field doctors in civilian sectors got killed when the metals tried to infiltrate a sector. They couldn't afford to loose anyone right now, most people understood that until they got injured and had to be carried all the way to the main base. Charley regretted the lives he probably could have saved had he just been closer to the battle, but just as he protected John it was obvious that John went out of his way to do the same for his father figures. None of them brought it up with John that they might be more useful outside of command. John just didn't need anymore worry and they were all secretly worried if any one of them died it might kill him. The first Cameron's departure had hurt John deeply and Kyle had nearly killed both John and Derek. Charley had tried to imagine what Kyle's situation had done to the psyche of those men, but he'd let it go on their insistence. However he was not going to let Colonel Dent's issues go unchecked. She was really a potential danger right now.

Charley looked around as nurses, doctors, soldiers, and civilians either stood or saluted him as he passed. He never got used to that. Charley inwardly sighed as his eyes wandered over the faces of his charges. He knew every one by name because he was responsible for their lives and it was a heavy burden since the man had never been taught to actually be a doctor, but he'd seen enough death pre-JD to understand enough. Charley was half way in the very large set of hallways designated for the infirmary when he found who he was looking for.

Charley had not seen the family resemblance as easily has he had with General Dent, but it was clear now knowing J that she and her sister shared some of the same features and would be known as sisters if you put them side by side. Charley knew Colonel Stephanie Dent better then most of his staff simply because the woman was a high ranking official and was very good in a critical situation. He'd often found himself being teased by Stephanie to relieve some tension he'd be carrying as he made the rounds with her. Stephanie had an electric personality when she was of the mind that the world wasn't as bad as it could be. He knew she wasn't the greatest at surgery but that was her only flaw when it came to medicine he thought. Patients loved Stephanie and Stephanie was one of the few people that had a great bed side manner with patients. Charley thought that was maybe why patients respected her, of course it couldn't be because of the birds he'd but on her shoulders not two and a half months ago. She was on the fast track to being a three star, but he didn't ponder that as he moved closer to the woman.

Stephanie's hair was shorter then her sisters, cut in a way that it couldn't be pulled by a patient if they were in distress, but it wasn't unattractive for the current way of life, just below her chin. Stephanie had the same rich chocolate colored hair as J. As Charley got closer to the doctor he noticed things she had in common with her sister, but they weren't dominate features like they shared the same eye slant. Charley spared a look at the young soldier she was leaning over with her clip board, the ripped and faded green hospital scrubs she wore fading into the gloom as the soldier bled. The solider couldn't have been more then sixteen and he was lying on a gurney in the middle of a hallway with thousands of other patients, but it seemed that Stephanie's smile had helped the distress the soldier's amputated leg was causing him for the briefest of moment. Charley almost sighed, knowing the soldier wasn't going to make it. Amputations these days went about as good as they did back in the 1800s when they used whiskey and wooden saws.

"Oh my, Corporal Leben look here, General Dixon decided to pay us a visit." Stephanie joked lightly with the soldier, falling into the military salute required of her as the Corporal also saluted stiffly. Dixon put on the best concerned yet stern face he could. Stephanie got away with things that any of the other generals wouldn't allow, but it wasn't just Stephanie he let do it on his staff. It helped them to get some sense of stability without stern punishment lurking around every corner, but he still held the fundamentals in place.

"Corporal, I'm going to steal Colonel Dent away for a moment and then she will be back." Dixon watched the young man nodded as Stephanie gave a 'Yes Sir' and followed him. Dixon turned on his heel and heading into the less frequented coma hallways of the infirmary with Stephanie on his heels.

"Sir, May I ask what this pertains to?" Stephanie asked as she followed Charley away from the patients with confusion. She couldn't be in trouble, but what did he need to talk to her about, since they were going to the coma ward he had to need to talk, that was the only logical explanation in Stephanie's mind.

"Colonel, have you heard the rumors circulating command?" Dixon asked, schooling his voice to not seem completely un-militaristic, but at the same time you would understand not to break protocol with him around.

"Yes, sir." Stephanie replied, jerking lightly at the mention of her baby sister. The "reports" coming out of command that day had spread like wild fire and she'd even gone up to the entrance of command to make sure J was okay, but she'd run into no one but her father. Which might have been a god send since he told her not to worry that J would be alright since Dixon was taking care of her apparently. A fact she'd found out about later from the man himself even though she'd not completely believed J was alright. That reminded Stephanie that Dixon was standing in front of her.

"Sir, is my sister alright?" Stephanie asked, not insulting the man's intelligence by clarifying who her sister was. Charley looked at her knowing he didn't want to lie to her again, but how much should he tell her. After all this was her family and that was a rare gift these days in and of itself.

"Your sister was injured more severely then at first glance revealed during a classified mission topside. She is resting comfortable and is being debriefed and will be fine." Charley explained, not a sound other then his voice as the deeply troubled coma patients slept. Stephanie's face lit up slightly with relief. Charley knew how much harder it was for the hospital staff to loose family members since they were the safe ones. It was the main reason you didn't bring up your family in the infirmary when you were treating a patient or conversing with another nurse. You avoided it…

"I need to ask you about the obvious case of Pre-Judgment Day PTSD, Colonel. At the present I need to know if she will lash out or if I need to be wary of anything in her past medical history." Dixon said looking straight into Stephanie's grass green eyes as her face hardened a moment before relaxing when she realized it had happened.

"I can assure you she will not lash out. Her PTSD has manifested itself as a mere exaggerated person bubble if you will. She does not like to be touched, it is her trigger but she is not violent to anything besides metal. Sir, what specifically do you need to know in her medical file?" Stephanie asked, shoulders relaxing only slightly from her attention stance though she knew she was free to move around if the urge struck her. Charley took a deep breath, but it was barely audible. He'd have to take Stephanie's word that she wasn't violent. He knew Stephanie wouldn't lie to him about this, but he still wondered what could have been so horrible to create such a touch barrier in the young woman so he voiced his question.

"An attack of a severe violent nature, Sir." Stephanie replied, clearly being vague and clearly not wanting to divulge anything more which puzzled Charley. Stephanie usually had a bubbly personality, but she'd clammed up at the mention of her sister's progressed case of PTSD.

"Colonel if you know something I need to know. I am in the unique position of not being able to function normally and I need to know why. The circumstances dictate it." Dixon said, getting frustrated at the vague answer from Stephanie, who'd slide into a full at attention stance with his line of questioning.

"Sir, I…" Stephanie started, before jumping closer to the nearest bunk, a standard plasma rifle required to be underneath it at all times as a metal approached them coming to stop in front of Dixon who just sighed lightly.

"What?" Charley asked, wondering why anyone would need him, the generals had just seen him. Charley watched as the T-600 opened its mouth to deliver its current voice message.

"All of you get your asses here imminently." John's voice came over the microphone and Charley frowned. What could John need, he'd just seen him and this was clearly a message for him and Derek since Ellison was already in command, but why did he sound off to Charley's trained ears.

"Well continue this Colonel, but I don't have to re-tell you that your sister is the only survivor of this mission and it's very important that everything goes smooth." Charley managed to give the tense girl a half smile to which she relaxed imminently since the tense awkwardness faded from them to the normal level of authority welding. Charley moved to follow the T-600 out the door, steering the dumb piece of metal away from the infirmary that would have so many plasma shots off the second it would walked in that the metal would make a brilliant fireworks display. Charley tried not to think about everything that could have gone wrong for John to knowingly send a standard terminator to the infirmary instead of Cameron who was at least tolerated among the great ranks of the resistance. All Charley knew was that this was either really good news or really bad. Charley noticed a Cameron standing at 'the' table before she pointed wordlessly to the closed door he'd left John in. Charley frowned, that wasn't going to go over well, a terminator being left to run the resistance, even for a small time period was going to cause an uproar. Charley started panicking before he realized that the actual reports were going to a three star on the second level and Cameron was just there for decoration and protecting their secrets while they met. Charley entered the office and Derek let out a clearly irritated breath.

"K, now are you going to tell us why you just broke our protocol?" Derek asked John, who just sat before a computer screen, motioning the older men to watch the scene of Adam's death play out on the screen, reading the statistics data to Derek and Charley in everyday terms. It took them a moment to realize where he was going with this before their was a moment of profound silence.

"Holy Fucking Shit!" Derek exclaimed as John nodded, a smile breaking out on his face despite the tense atmosphere.

"Do you realize what we could do if…"Ellison left the sentence hanging turning to both Derek and Charley since it was obvious that yes John had thought in that direction.

"We could kill Skynet." Charley whispered, amazed beyond belief, an unreal sense of euphoria sweeping his system at the speculation.

"We couldn't…but maybe J could." Derek said, the disbelief clear in his voice before his legs gave out and he sat on the floor. He'd fought two life times for the destruction of Skynet and the weapon had been under his nose the whole time? It was ironic in the worst kind of way.

"But how is this possible? And how can we be absolutely sure?" Ellison said raining on the vague hope John's evidence had instilled in the other two men.

"Stephanie. I'll get the how out of Stephanie Dent even if I don't know what I'm looking for. As for the if perhaps that is a question for Geminite Dent." Charley declared, not moving right away since he didn't want to move from his state of euphoria. It seemed like a miracle, a human that possessed the capacity to communicate with machines? It seemed straight out of a science fiction movie to John, but with everything he'd done he was willing to go on a little faith. After all time travel seemed more complicated then talking to a machine when you broke it down.

**(A/N Like I said I should be sleeping. I'm sorry it's shorter then the previous chapters, but I'm trying to find the time to write. Again I'm sorry if anyone thought I had the whole think written, but I swear I said I had the end written and not the bulk of the story…Please Review as you can tell it kicks my butt in gear!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**(A/N Well, I slept more while writing this chapter. Lol. I really enjoy writing actually so when I do write instead of sleeping it's mostly for my benefit…as twisted as that is. Really I just had some rare free time this weekend and thought I'd write. I hope you all continue to like my chapters. Thanks Dre4mwe4ver and Jeremy Shane for last chapter's reviews, I'm glad you liked it, keep them coming!)**

"Okay first things first." Ellison said pacing like none of them had seen him do since right before Judgment Day when he was trying to think about how to stop John Henry from being installed with the Turk. Derek rubbed his forehead, turning his eyes to the man, his mind still on the computer. Charley let his mind reel a moment, thinking about all this meant. A miracle had just dropped in their laps, but how was this possible. He doubted that even Stephanie knew her sister could do…what ever it was she was doing. How had she avoided discovering this 'talent' he would call it?

John looked up at his family, feeling a relief he hadn't felt since his mother was alive. John looked at the tears almost present in Derek's eyes, Charley's expression of wonder, and Ellison's mind working over time. John felt each of these things and more hope. Could he finally have what he needed to stop Skynet for good? Was he actually going to be able to accomplish all his parents had laid out for him to do? Could he win now? Now that he had this incredible soldier? It occurred to John that Adam might have seen this phenomena first hand since he'd broken with military protocol to complete his mission. That would have been something Adam would have done. He hadn't been protecting just his mission; he had been protecting this soldier. By letting the other members of his team know she had the CPU's meant her survival and her return to command and him.

"Charley. Grill her sister. Derek track down and question her mother. Ellison take her father since he's under your sector." John said turning his eyes back to the computer screen, thanking his dead friend more then anything right now. With his death he'd given John what he needed to destroy Skynet. It was then that John wondered why Adam had stayed out topside instead of coming back in. It only took John the length of time it took Derek to get up for him to decide a course of action.

"Ellison, get those CPU's Adam collected to, maybe there is more evidence for us. Knowing Adam he wouldn't bring back a single piece of small evidence, he'd test her." John said looking down to compose himself a minute. This seemed so surreal to John to look at his family and know they might have found a way out.

"Wait, John that leaves J." Charley said, not entirely sure he wanted to leave anyone alone with the soldier yet since he'd been interrupted in his "interrogation" with Stephanie. Charley recognized that look in John's eyes and it both thrilled and worried him. John was believing in hope again. Charley had all but forgotten how boyish John could look when he was excited, scars not withstanding.

"I'll take J. Charley since you just talked to Colonel Dent, you think you could run command a while? At least until Derek or James is done? I'm going to learn as much about this woman as I can, but I don't like leaving three stars in charge." John cringed openly, causing a smirk from everyone in the room.

"Trust issues." Derek laughed a sound John had grown to come accustomed to over the years and a sound he realized he'd missed.

"Seriously John who's going try to bring down command." Charley joked, along with Derek, who gave him a pat on the back, John's smile falling slightly, but none the less amused and enjoying himself.

"It's not like a metal would ever impersonate someone close to you right?" Ellison contributed to the sarcasm as John stood to face them with mock irritation as they all started to laugh lightly at all the demented memories those comments had brought up. John let out a breath as James patted him on the back lightly.

"Thank you." John said to all the men in front of him, thankful his mother had left him with a strong support system in her absence.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I've got a person to track down. Be nice to Dent, Connor. Yeah hear?" Derek joked, moving past John with a smile that only fell once the door was open and he left, but his body language clearly elated. Charley waited until James had left with a nod before he closed the door once again, John still smiling in their private world.

"John…" Charley sighed. "I just wanted to tell you to be careful with Dent. I was talking to Stephanie when you called. She's got a serious case of PTSD that precedes JD." Charley explained as John moved to shut off the computer and throw on his uniform jacket to cover the tattered white stained undershirt he'd had since before JD.

"How bad?" John asked, his smile faltering only slightly as he buttoned up and watched Charley start to doubt the great news they'd just been handed.

"From what I gathered, none violent so far, but John it appears touch is her trigger, so just be careful. I'm uneasy about leaving you alone with her." Charley admitted, knowing he sounded like a moron at the moment as John slouched, looking at him oddly.

John considered the knowledge he'd just been given my Charley. He'd never heard of anyone with pre-JD PTSD ever making it through JD. He knew from experience that PTSD wasn't something to mess with. He'd suffered from it at one point himself, after taking his first life. He'd nearly killed himself after that and John fought the urge to touch the small faded scar on his left cheek, the evidence of his own private battle, a clear tell to the man in front of him. Charley knew all about his little episode, courtesy of Derek's big mouth and it had un-nerved James, who was told by Charley, and Charley a few years ago when they'd found out the buried incident during a reminiscing talk when they'd needed to blow off some steam before a big mission.

"Thanks Charley. But I can handle myself and I'm hurt you think I've been in command so long I can't take a severely wounded soldier." John joked putting his palm on the older man's shoulder lightly.

"I'm just saying because those bandages are going to need to be changed and I'm due to start rounds five minutes ago which I'm going to have to catch up on. Plus I can tell from my earlier conversation with Colonel Dent that it isn't going to be easy to get the information I need, or we need for that matter." Charley said rubbing his forehead in exhaustion. It was his turn for stasis duty tonight as well, it was going to be a long forty eight hours.

"I tell you what; I can handle a bandage change. Go get those rounds done when one of the others are done, Colonel Dent, well Colonel Dent one is the most important thing right now I think." John said, just remembering that he promoted J earlier. Charley sighed, the man never listened.

"John, did you not just hear what I…" Charley didn't finish as John patted him on the shoulder, thinking of his mom and how many times she'd said those words to him.

"I did Charley, but I know all about PTSD. I'll be fine. You worry too much." John said trying to joke, but bringing the man into a one armed hug quickly, letting go just as quickly as he left the room. John mentally sighed, all eyes turning to face him as he shut the door, giving Charley a minute before he'd have to exit. John nodded to General Avert, the general that had been collecting the reports, seeming to control command for the time he needed to meet with the other generals. General Avert came forward, handing John about ten or fifteen sheets of paper John didn't even glance at as he moved to stand next to Cameron.

"Anything out of the ordinary?" John asked Cameron, just briefly looking over the map she'd been endlessly staring at as a sign that none were to bother her.

"General Hadd did not appreciate the trust shown in General Avert." Cameron reported, making John want to roll his eyes. Like he'd ever give anyone he didn't know personally something as important as running command, Avert had been gathering paper, inventory lists at best he would bet and nothing more. John handed Charley the papers General Avert had handed him as the older man moved to his shoulder a minute or so later.

"Have fun." John whispered Dixon giving him the evil eye discreetly as John moved to ward the hall that separated his quarters from command, Cameron ever following behind him. John noticed nothing but the clatter of Cameron's feet as he moved back toward his quarters, seeming like every step was lighter then the metals.

"Cameron, wait at the end of the hall way." John ordered as he saw the door to his quarters, the idea that Cameron's presence might make J more uncomfortable then she already would probably be hit him silently. Cameron trained her expression to John, purposely calculating a concerned facial expression.

"I must advise against this decision. Colonel J. Dent may not be safe to be alone with." Cameron said, tilting her head slightly and widening her eyes a precise calculation to try to convince John to see her point.

"Wait at the end of hall." John ordered, not swayed a bit, his Cameron would have tilted her head the other direction, frowned, and pouted her lip slightly. John found it funny nowadays that he could pick out the calculation differences between the two Cameron's. Cameron two however was programmed to follow his orders to the letter, unlike his Cameron who'd been programmed to think about his well being before his orders. John waited until the rehabilitated terminator turned her back on the door and then moved on. John paused to knock lightly at the door to announce his presence, though it felt weird that he had to knock at his own door.

"I'm awake." He heard a weak voice call out before he entered, his rigged shoulders falling into their natural set as he crossed the threshold, it was still his room after all.

"Commander." J recognized him imminently and she moved to sit straighter, but her body seized in pain and instead she gripped the uncovered mattress hard and set her jaw against the pain.

"J, please I think we might be past formalities now. It's John." John said, moving to his desk with a nodd in her direction, shutting the door soundly behind himself.

"Yes, sir." J said, out of reflex, surprised when John gave her a small smile, still convinced she might be hallucinating. She laid still, her eyes closing despite herself since she was really tired. John's presence made her feel the safest she had in a long while which both frightened and relaxed her. She assumed that he had this effect on people; it was probably what made him the best choice for the leader of the resistance, that and his military training. J blew a strand of hair out of her face, suddenly uncomfortable on the first mattress she'd slept on in years.

"Those bandages need changing." John said, rummaging around in a drawer of the desk across the room as J stared at his back uneasy.

"Sir." J said her voice shaking as she was suddenly self-conscious about being alone in a locked room with the leader of the resistance. She couldn't believe she was here, her wounds surprisingly not the first thing into her mind. Here she was bleeding, oozing, her hair was loose and oily, she hadn't had a chance to wipe the grim from her face, and she probably smelled, what was he doing anywhere near her and would she ever be able to face him again? Were what passed through her mind all within the second it took him to pull a roll of gauze from under a .45 caliber hand gun.

"Not to worry Colonel. I'm not completely helpless in field medicine." John joked lightly sitting in the chair he assumed Derek had pulled next to his bed retrieving his pocket knife as he went, noticing the unconscious twitch of her right index finger as he flicked the blade out. This was his first sign to be careful on his approach though he doubted he'd have seen it twitch if he hadn't been looking for a sign.

"Sir? I believe you are mistaken." J said, willing her breath not to smell as she realized he'd addressed her above her rank and almost not saying anything. Who was she to contradict the leader of the resistance on his memory?

"Actually, you're a Colonel now. Given the assignment and the manner in which it was carried out I've promoted you." John announced putting his forearms on his knees giving her a minute before he approached her physically as well as neglecting to jump to the subject he wanted to immediately in favor of a more subtle inquiry. He'd bought himself the time, he might as well use it.

"Thank…Thank you sir." J said, surprised to her very core, her hands loosening a little as the pain receded since she was less tense, not being reprimanded for correcting him.

"J, it's John in here, please." He said looking from her arm to her face, trying to be sociable. It wasn't his strong suit that he knew. James and Charley were better at small talk then he was. J just stared at him a moment before she swallowed. It was official the world really did work in a screwed up way and she wondered briefly how in the world her week could get weirder.

"Okay, Dent. I'm going to reach around you." John said showing her the gauze and bandages' in his hand. J despite herself tensed up as he moved forward out of reflex, but she rammed her molars together as he slowly came toward her. J tried to breath through her nose, stay calm and fight the instincts coursing through her veins.

"You're going to have to sit up a moment." John said moving toward her arm first he slowly lowered his hand down to lift her shoulders up. John stayed his course even when J swore in pain as she shuddered at the touch. John made quick work of sitting her up and carefully unrolling the red bandages in exchange for the clean wrap. John moved quickly, noticing J drawing blood from her lip as she struggled with her mind and her body at the same time. John pulled back several times so she could collect herself, but it took him barely ten minutes to change J's bandages, with the eyes of a doctor and nothing more, though J would classify those ten minutes as complete and utter torture. She felt more awkward then previous when John finally leaned away from her.

"Okay. That should be good for a while. You should lay back down." John instructed, now knowing first hand how much damage she'd taken but seeing it up close now. It was one thing to see bandages and watch the incident, but another to actually see the wounds. Though bleeding wounds and plasma burns weren't anything new to any of them it was still nothing to take lightly. John let his hands guide her shoulders, but he did not touch her. He'd seen ever little wince she gave even when he'd only lightly touched her. He'd come to a grave discovery that they might have gotten their hopes up.

"I'm sorry. I'm…" J started to say, wanting to explain since she knew he wasn't an idiot, but she wouldn't tell anyone how her personal bubble had been advanced even if a metal went to chock the answer from her. But this was her commanding officer, the most powerful man on the planet, and she felt like a gray for not wanting to tell him.

"No need, Dent." John said trying to give her a small smile, but not managing to get it past his mind and onto his face.

"Sir…Connor…John." J finally said straining on each word, whispering the last one, as he turned to put his supplies away. She braced herself for the meteor that was suppose to fall on her head for breaking military protocol, calling the commander of the resistance by his first name. Where was the terminator waiting to pop out of a giant birthday cake with a semi-automatic wearing a red sparkly nose?

"Yes?" John asked, that smile actually working it's way to his face as she addressed him by his first name. J steeled herself, still aching lightly from the new bandages, but she sighed. She was going to terminator hell for agreeing to break protocol so she might as well relax with the decision.

"What happens now sir?" J asked lightly tilting her head to left, rubbing her index finger up and down her thumb unconsciously as she once again stared at his back.

"Now? Now we're going to talk. We have a while so if you can't remember anything I ask, just think as long as you need alright?" John said, his voice lowering in concern lightly thinking about what his mother would do.

"Sir…John my memory is fairly good. What would you like to know?" J sighed looking back up at the ceiling wondering what she was going to have to tell him and dreading it at the same time. John looked at the apprehension clearly on her face and re-thought about questioning her flat out then.

"You have any nicknames? Never had one myself." John said trying something Derek would do for lack of anything better to do. John could almost picture his mother giving him her patented 'get on with it' glare.

J brought her eyes back to John's face as he sat back down, the first three buttons of his jacket undone and his eyes crinkled around the edges in silent laughter. J took in his body language and composure and let a tiny smile cross her pained face. She'd never in her wildest dreams thought she'd be talking with this man, but now he was asking her about meaningless things like General Baum had, so maybe she should just let herself live in the moment and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow when the world made sense.

"I've had a few and you've had some yourself if I may be so bold." J said marveling in the smile that crossed his lips. She'd always found him handsome, but John smiling was like a display of the northern lights she'd seen once as a child, a beautiful rarity.

"Oh I believe I've heard some rumors." John replied leaning back in the chair as J laid ridged. "But with such a personality you certainly can't have my nicknames." John joked pulling out his purified water, taking a sip before offering it to her. J took the assisted sip John helped her with but shied away from the human contact.

"I have one my family calls me. It's Gem." J told him feeling the water slide down her throat, only then realizing how thirsty she'd been.

"Ahh, your family includes your father, sister, and mother correct?" John asked not really needing an affirmative but asking anyway to keep the conversation going.

"I had a brother once as well. He died of cancer before I turned twelve." J told John, not really upset by the memory as she would have been a decade ago. John noticed the ease she disclosed this information. John was silent trying to think about what he would say to that before J broke the silence.

"Sir, why are we doing this?" J asked, the pointless and short conversation tugging on her nerves already. She was never one for small talk and the novelty of being able to talk to the commander of the entire resistance. John sighed, he'd expected her to see right through him, but then he smirked seeing a little bit of his mother's impatience in the soldier in front of him.

"J, I've watched your last kill and I need to know if that has ever happened before that metal?" John asked, looking directly into her face.

"I don't understand sir." J stated moving to be angled toward him stiffly as he leaned closer to her.

"Have you ever taken on and killed a terminator by yourself excluding your last battle?" John asked her, clasping his hands together, leaning closer to her with every second.

"Yes sir." J said, knowing where he was going now. Adam had noticed this as well, but J didn't think this had anything to do with her. She wasn't any different then any other soldier, other than being locked in a room with the leader of the human resistance. John watched her face carefully, weighing his options.

"J, I've analyzed the last statistical data from the metals CPU and I noticed an anomaly." John said, careful with his word choice since he didn't know how she was going to take this news, or how she'd explain it since it seemed she thought nothing was abnormal.

"Sir?" J questioned, biting her tongue for slipping back into the military jargon.

"Colonel this is going to be a bit of a shock, but the only anomaly was you. Make no mistake I analyzed this data several times already. You, Adam and the metal were isolated. There was nothing else for miles." John said slowly wondering what crossed her mind when she looked to the ceiling momentarily.

"Private Henderson, Sir. Private Henderson was with us." J said, whispering, trying to find the courage to look into his face. That couldn't be true. She wasn't special; she was just another faceless soldier in the fight against Skynet. Why would she be an 'anomaly'? But at the same time she found herself wondering why he would lie to her. He had more important things to do then to mess with the psyche of a nameless soldier, right? She'd never believed those rumors about mass murders and insanity that plagued John's personality reputation, but why would he do this?

"Sir, if I may. I'm sure there is something else to explain this occurrence. Maybe a factory defect or a rough Skynet information wave? John, I'm not a metal, I don't do anything but point and shoot like I've been taught by your organization!" J said, her voice rising as she spoke to near hysteria. J started to breathe heavily, aching all over once again, but she turned her eyes to the ceiling and tried to calm down. John resisted the urge to calm her with the use of physical contact like you would a small child, instead opting to try a different approach.

"Calm down J. You're going to need to calm down, soldier. Nothing's wrong we are just going over some facts to try to understand what happened. I'm not accusing you of anything, alright?" John tried to console the girl as she closed her eyes, focusing on his words instead of the flashes of the terminators she'd fought running behind her eyelids. This wasn't true; it couldn't be true in J's mind. She wasn't some science fiction hero, no, that was what they had John for!

"Okay J we are just going to talk now. Alright?" John asked leaning his forearms on his knees as he bent toward her eerily still figure his voice changing to one of irritating endless patience.

"Sir, with all due respect I'm not mental." J said, angry he'd upset her so much. So what if he killed her now, it was better then everyone thinking she was some kind of metal substitute. She'd die before she had even the slightest thing in common with a metal. John could have her labeled a traitor and shipped topside for the rest of her short life, he was wrong and she wasn't going to sit by and let him brand her like a mental patient. He was talking to her like a shrink, or one of the infirmary staff that had all been taught the basics of psychology. J turned her now angry glance back toward her commanding officer.

"Fair enough J, but were going to hash this out, whether you like it or not." John said, his voice sinking into its deeper tones he was famous for in command.

"Sir, I'm not metal either." J said, looking him straight in the eyes, still seething with anger.

"No one ever said you were." John threw back at her, still eerily calm himself, but his voice echoing in the enclosed room.

**(A/N I hope you hit the Review button. I'm almost sure I update and write faster when I get those emails saying I have reviews because how many times a day do people check their email vs. think about one specific thing when they have tons of other stuff on their minds? Next chapter will either be the gathered information the generals have collected or I might go into detail about what they were all thinking and where the conversations took place, etc…After that though, the beginning of the journey to stop Skynet with their new "weapon" ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**(A/N I just watched the new chronicles yesterday and I've decided to change this just a bit but it'll start from there because I've kept Charley alive. I've also been playing with a thought that goes toward the end and that episode just gave me the perfect deviation plan :p I realize I haven't updated in a while but it's mostly because I've been working on other things. That was one of the reservations I had about posting this, lol. However I'm actually still in my 'I don't want to' mind set right now…but here it is!)**

It had taken several minutes for J to calm down enough for John to question her on the specifics of her previous missions. He'd asked for every detail, ever watchful for anything that might be a sign of a lie. John doubted she'd lie to him, but he knew better then to trust the woman instantly without question. He'd spent three hours questioning J before he realized that with every detail she provided her anomaly status was cementing itself. It seem every terminator she'd taken out had been under the same circumstances and very little deviated from the rough format he'd come across watching Adam die. John wondered if the others would find anything that would change his mind, but at the moment he severally doubted it…

********

Derek had moved through the civilian sector of command with an impassive face, but an over active mind. It hadn't taken him many inquires to find the location of the teacher he sought out, but he wondered what he had to gain by probing into J's past in the round about way. He owed his life to J on more then one occasion and he would trust what ever she said. He decided that may be why John was interrogating J. He was to close to the subject.

"Dent, Coralline! Front and center." Baum barked into the large great room that was nothing more than a huge circle that connected more of the mass of tunnels that the human race was forced to live in these days. Derek waited for someone to move, everyone looking at him, some saluting, some glaring, some scared, but most were just curious. Many of the children were shrinking away from him and he couldn't blame them. He rested his eyes on the aging woman that slowly rose to her feet and made her way up to him. She was a petite woman, but her domineer screamed hard inner strength only added in effect by the crows feet clearly marking her green eyes. They were stark contrast to her chocolate brown hair that was longer then most women, though he didn't see many women that weren't soldiers these days.

"Sir?" J's mother asked, not in the least timid, but clearly slightly fearful of bad news.

"I'm going to need to talk with you about your daughter." Derek said, trying to ease his voice up, but not managing to drop his voice the necessary octaves that came easy when alone with the generals. He watched the woman square her shoulders with a shaky walk however she followed him into a tunnel he thought might be a little more private. Derek didn't say another word until they were almost guaranteed no one would over hear them…

*********

Ellison moved through the maze of corridors with a practiced ease. He was so familiar with the trek in and out of command from the techs he could have done it blind folded and bleeding to death. James never noticed the lack of activity that usually was characteristic of this sector before now however always having something else on his mind. Techs came and went, but never in groups of more then three usually when there was a shift change since shift changes happened in twenty minute differences to avoid this. Ellison tried to think about the questions he would ask the general when he found him, but he'd only come up with the traditional, 'anything wrong with her' question that he couldn't very well ask the man. Ellison moved through the entrance to the tech ward. Endoskeletons, fleshy, rubber, and exposed were scattered everywhere per usual, but Ellison moved further inward in search of the hardened general that was poring over some spec reports by the look of it. Precautionary measures being followed to the letter since the CPU's were in the next room the reports were in here.

"General Dent. Come." Ellison said never being one with words, at least since he's failure with John Henry who'd taught him that words meant little which he'd found was in sync with Derek's philosophy. Ellison mentally sighed as he led the silent general away from the room with both human and metal eyes watching their exit. Ellison led the general to the holding room for the endoskeleton parts so that no one could over hear them, not even metal.

"Sir, is this about Geminite?" General Dent asked not flirting around with utmost formality, but falling into an at ease position not even eyeing the pair of detached T-888 arms at his feet.

"Yes General. She's come into the position of Colonel lately due to some sensitive information she's collected. However, given the information she's come into the possession of she's been also granted a very…special…position within the resistance and I am in need of information myself general." Ellison said, his voice shifting from his stern tone to the tone he'd used with his agents back in the day since it was laced with underlying respect that people responded to well.

"What sort of information Sir?" The graying man asked his blue eyes in direct contrast to the calm tone of his voice. Ellison noticed immediately that something was wrong. General Dent was keeping a secret and they both knew it after a moment of silence. It wasn't that the general did anything suspicious, but the general's mind had obviously jumped to the worst with Ellison's presence. Ellison doubted anything less then his or John's presence would have the general thinking what ever had popped into his mind. Ellison looked at the man meaningfully and crossed his arms in a power play he knew he didn't need.

"General I don't need to tell you that this is important, but I am going to ask what it is you would rather not tell me. General your daughter is going to be working in close regards to John Connor and I won't allow any secrecy." Ellison said, the generals head snapping as he looked up probably not having noticed his gaze turning to the floor.

"Is that why you need to know sir? Because there is nothing Connor would have to worry about from my daughter." General Lawrence Dent said, his shoulders aching as he strained to remain in his stance out of respect for the military system he'd lived his life by and would honor until his death. Ellison watched the man carefully. His body language told Ellison that he was telling the truth, but the mere fact that the general was hiding something about his daughter had Ellison apprehensive about their 'miracle'.

"Regardless Dent I'm going to need to know." Ellison said staying motionless as the general in front of him ground his teeth, thinking that this couldn't be good…

********

Derek leaned against the wall in front of J's mother having gained a strange mental picture of J as a young girl before Judgment Day. He would have never guessed in a million years that J had loved the color pink, or that her idea of fun as a young girl had been riding her Barbie bicycle around the suburban neighborhood she'd lived in. Derek wondered what in the world all this could tell him about J, but he let the woman regale him with meaningless details about her daughter's normal life before the world went to hell. Derek was about to tell the woman he had enough information when he noticed she'd skipped J's high school years all together and even gone straight into J's junior year of college, the year of Judgment Day.

"Mrs. Dent, rewind. You're missing a few years." Derek said trying to be approachable instead of closed off; after all he'd only been talking to this woman for the last few hours! Derek noticed the change in the woman's shoulders instantly knowing she'd done it on purpose.

"Oh, um what did you want to know?" Coralline Dent asked Derek's highly trained ears picking up the subtle changes in the woman's vocal patterns. Derek pushed himself off the wall to subtly tower over the woman he'd grown to appreciate for her role in shaping the woman J had become.

"Mrs. Dent, nothing you think will betray your daughter will hurt her. You've yet to ask why I need the information Mrs. Dent and I assure you nothing you think will be the wrong thing to say will be used against Colonel Dent." Derek said pulling his arms behind himself and settling a deep gaze at the woman. He knew when he was being redirected and he didn't like or tolerate it. He'd given this woman no passes to treat him as anything accept her husbands commanding officer and he wasn't going to give her any slack even if he did secretly admire her strength with an entire family involved in the resistance.

"General Baum, I was an army wife before J-day and now I'm a resistance wife. I know what the appearance of a high ranking official such as you means. General my daughter has been through a lot in her life and I'm going to need more then a vague reassurance she won't be harmed or used." Mrs. Dent said her features changing into a fierce mask of determination in a seconds notice. Derek stared down the previously friendly woman without a second thought as to how fast this conversation had turned deadly serious.

"Mrs. Dent I am not in the business of using another human being beyond what they wish to give to the cause. However the only thing I can give you to reassure you that your daughter is in no more danger for the knowledge you would give me is my word as second in command of the resistance." Derek said the steel back in his voice as he stood with his shoulders pulled back and his eyes blazing at the lack of trust this woman showed in him. He knew he had his own reputation for being heartless, but for this woman to believe the worst after the hours he'd spent with her angered him. Sarah had been the only other woman to pull that on him and he did not like having his authority challenged. Derek watched as the woman held her ground most likely aware that what she'd just done could get her severely in trouble for her and her husband, even though Derek would never do that.

"General Baum…my family is all I have in this world. This war has taken everything else and it threatens to take them away everyday. I'll tell you, as I suspect you know I will either way, but please she's not a statistic advantage, she's my daughter." Mrs. Dent said, her eyes starting to water as Derek towered over the woman and he found that he understood. After all that had been Sarah's main conflict when it came to John and Derek found he almost did not want to know now.

"When Gem was in High School she found that she…"

********

Ellison looked at General Dent in impatience as he waited for the man to speak. The man had talked about his previous dealings with the United States Army and he'd let him talk but he was failing to draw a point as to what he didn't want to divulge about his youngest daughter. Ellison listened as the man talked about Middle Eastern missions and nameless cyber terrorists until Ellison finally picked up the key phrase he needed to hear to start to draw a conclusion; technology research.

"General, are we talking Skynet technology or something else?" Ellison tensed noticeably, not aware of this development in the least. Ellison almost feared that in his pursuit of information about the youngest Dent he'd uncovered even more frightening information about the oldest one.

"No Sir, this was suppose to be medical technology." Ellison didn't miss the sneer that accompanied that sentence as the general, who'd long started to move about normally, stopped at a table full of synthetic ankle joints.

"Suppose to be?" Ellison asked having relaxed all of enough to nodd but he didn't move for his original spot. Ellison considered the general's shoulder set and started to realize where this was going and not liking what that meant for the young soldier holed up with John…

*********

John knew he'd done nothing to dispel any tension their conversation of her lost comrades had caused but he didn't know what to make of the situation. The woman clearly wanted to know why he'd insisted she was the only anomaly but he knew she wouldn't accept the idea lightly and he really didn't blame her. Here he was practically calling her a terminator; he won't react even as remotely calm as she was. John resisted the urge to turn toward her on the bunk. Instead he acted as if the inventory report on the annual levels of salt water purification deserved his full attention, and in truth it probably did but rubbed the bridge of his nose after a moment wondering what in hell was taking Derek, James, and Charley so long. It had been hours! John had been sitting at his desk for two of them with this tension hanging in the air and he was almost convinced he needed to leave her alone before she spoke in a whisper.

"John?" J called out hesitantly. She'd been sitting completely still for over two hours now and she'd finally talked herself into calling out for his help. Gem wasn't one to complain she just couldn't take it anymore. She needed to get up and soon because she really was going crazy. She'd never been one to just sit around and do nothing, injured or not she should be allowed to get to her feet, at least to wipe the dried blood off herself and she needed to get her uniform jacket to the seamstresses. J had run through a list of several other things she needed to do but she'd not been able to muster the strength to willingly put herself in so much pain or disregard John's obvious order to recover unheeded.

"Yes?" John asked swiveling to meet her gaze almost to fast for her to realize she'd spoken. J sighed loudly and blinked a few times.

"Sir, I'm going to need assistance to reach my feet." J said, referring to what she thought was proper and what, given their previous tense state, she felt was right.

"Dent, you being on your feet right now is not a bright idea." John said obviously restraining himself from saying something else.

"Sir, I believe you will share my philosophy that pain is pain no matter how it's induced. Sir I'm in need of a vertical shift." J said trying to speak without really wanting to tell him what she wanted to do since she thought it was ridiculous herself that she wanted to get the grime off herself. After all this was the age of Skynet, everything was dirty but it seemed as if John read her mind after that as he moved to her side wordlessly. John anticipated the flinch that came when he grabbed her hand and waited a second before putting his other arm around her shoulders, bracing her back against the wall soundlessly aware he was deep in her personal bubble at the moment with the heat from her body pressed into his chest. John moved away slowly to make sure she was fine sitting up but J didn't open her eyes, instead trying to breath through the pain and that musky scent radiating off John being so consciously in her bubble.

"Are you alright?" John asked her since she'd yet to open her eyes when he moved off the mattress to his desk to retrieve a bottle of water and removed a bandage from the drawer.

"Yes." J sighed after a moment disconnecting the pain wondering why she'd wanted to sit up so badly all of a sudden.

"Here." John said crossing the room again dabbing the bandage with water before sitting beside her slowly reaching up to wipe the caked blood from her fingers. John noticed how J would notice the difference between the synthetic fabric and his fingers when they'd graze her. Instantly wondering why but not pressing it as he worked his way up to the bandages he'd dressed her in with a single mindedness as the silence increased.

"I apologize for being defensive." J said after John had finished cleaning her arm of dried blood. The years of grime remained, but at least the blood was gone. She almost didn't know what she'd do without the grime since it gave her a tan-ish look to her eyes.

"You're going to need to be less close minded later in life. I did not accuse you of anything I simply stated the facts as they are. Being able to do something others can't isn't something evil, but I can understand where you're coming from, but we haven't even established without a doubt it was you Dent." John replied moving the freshly watered bandage over the left side of her face lightly as J then opened her eyes to look at him a long moment as he continued his task.

"I'm sorry, but the thought of having anything in common with those…" J started but was interrupted by a loud knock at the blast door that held her attention even though John didn't miss a beat as he called out.

"Death is to dying as?" John phrased the entry question.

"Life is to canaries." Ellison's voice came through the door and John stood up to unlock the door.

"Canaries?" J chocked out tempted to laugh at the sheer randomness of that entry phrase, there for its genius.

"James, Derek. Why didn't either of you relieve Charley?" John asked and J found herself wondering why none of them would meet her eyes, especially Derek.

"We've gathered important information." Derek said before heading out the door without a word which J almost shrugged off but why after the jokes he'd thrown at her earlier…was it really yesterday now…had he completely turned to stone?

"You still need some rest. One of us will return in a moment." John said while he put a roll of bandages and a water bottle in his vacated seat, looking briefly at her face and then Ellison's before both generals left and J was left to contemplate how she was going to move without falling sideways.

"Command Room Alpha." Derek said ever aware of Cameron's annoying presence as the generals moved down the hall, John tempted to ask what they'd found right there that had them both so…excited didn't seem the word to him. John gave Charley a discreet sign as they passed into command for the adjacent room without a word, each deep into their body language acts as they shut the door behind them, Cameron left outside noticeably by Derek but John didn't want to argue with him.

"What's wrong?" John asked the instant the door was closed as Derek flopped into the lone computer chair.

"We know what it is." Ellison exclaimed, startling John when the older man cracked a full blown smile.

"From which one?" John asked mentally bracing himself for some hope crushing news or perhaps some hope lifting news, either one would probably knock him off his feet at this stage in his miserable life.

"Both." Derek and Ellison replied at the same time.

"And it's positive." Ellison added and John felt his shoulders slump in relief but he couldn't shake the feeling they were about to dump more of a nuclear bomb on his screwed up world view.

**(A/N I seem to like those cliff hangers don't I? :3 If I get more reviews this time the next chapter will probably be a lot, A LOT quicker! Lol. Hope you all are still enjoying this!)**


	8. Chapter 8

(A/N wow it's been a while since I wrote this one…FYI I have not seen Terminator Salvation even though from the trailers I was thinking my story was a little similar to that guy that was chained up…again haven't seen it so it shouldn't cloud my story)

"General Dent was involved in more then intelligence during his time in the U.S. Army." Ellison began, "He was also the head of a medical technologies program. This program was supposed to be engineered to help soldiers out of the Middle Eastern war with PTSD of all things. One of the doctors took it upon himself to use J when she was a two day old baby as a guinea pig when he got dishonorably discharged by Dent. The procedure involved brain surgery. The general didn't know the particulars since he wasn't that involved in the science of the project beyond the basics. It was after this that the man got so good with computers, but think about it. She has the exact condition this device was supposed to work against." Ellison said as his voice took a deep tone and got faster during his explanation. John and Derek didn't move, but they both raised an eyebrow.

"So she's a twenty first century lab rat? Not reassuring. What happened to this project?" John asked, felling a little uneasy about this now.

"It was disbanded after General Dent…well he had the doctor taken out." Ellison admitted and both John and Derek nodded, feeling comradely with the older general. It wasn't an easy thing to kill someone before JD and they respected the man for going to that length to protect his family, especially John who had to do almost the same thing.

"The kicker here is that this research was under the contract of Cyber Dyne systems and used their primitive CPU technology. It was supposed to be the first implementation of the technology." Ellison said and the tension built in the room instantly.

"Skynet, but wouldn't they know about this then? Nothing in the records the T-1000 pulled up said anything about anything except which camp she was in." John supplied. John turned to face Derek as the man explained what Mrs. Dent had said when he'd forced her to take the censor off the story.

"Mrs. Dent said Dent buried this project six feet under after what happened. He threatened the government with going public unless they shut the project down and burned it to the ground. With this project swept under the rug never to be heard from again Cyber Dyne could use a different project as its so called first to show the world." Derek said. John sighed as he tried desperately to wrap his head around this. He rubbed his eyes briefly before it clicked.

"She has a primitive CPU in her skull? They created a human to put it in when it didn't work out to put it in actual human beings? Depending on where they put it though wouldn't it control different parts of the brain right? James, could you get Charley." John said as his brain threatened to analyze every move the girl had made in the last hours as the intimidating man left without a word. John chanced a look up at Derek's beaming face but he couldn't share the man's enthusiasm after spending the last two hours in limbo with the soldier in question. Charley ended the room with a large yawn and John realized he'd been up way to long to be much help, but Charley just shook his head as if reading his thoughts. John stood silent as Derek filled the man in. Charley fell backward lightly to sit on the aging and groaning desk with the information.

"The PTSD… She was a normal kid, right? Is that what her mother said?" Charley asked almost desperately and John answered to the affirmative. John rolled his eyes as Charley leaned backward in a sigh of relief.

"What is going through your head Charley?" John asked as slight irritation made its way into his voice.

"Was she hit in the head or something?" Charley asked Derek from his position causing him to look at the other man upside down.

"Mrs. Dent said she ended up in the hospital after an 'incident' which is when the PTSD started. Why?" Derek asked with the same irritation John was showing creeping into his voice.

"Damn. There is a specific part of the brain that deals with stress. I will bet anything it's in her Locus Coeruleus and stretches into her Cerebellum accidentally." Charley announced as if it solved everything and he got a huge smile on his tired looking face.

"Translation Doctor?" John asked while he moved to knock Charley's knee to avoid the older man from falling asleep.

"The Locus Coeruleus is a bluish part of the brain. Its main function is to regulate things when stressed and the Cerebellum controls motor function among other things. But most of all it would have to be at the base of her brain where it would have needed to be able to grow with her skull and brain…" Charley yawned, "…because if you take into account the technology they couldn't get any further in adult patients without serious risk of death at the time." Charley explained before another yawn hit him and his head rolled to look at the cot on the floor longingly to which John and Derek rolled their eyes, still not quite understanding.

"She wasn't an adult Charley, right? The girl wasn't even playing with her Barbie bicycle yet." Derek stated, but half asked to try to understand.

"Exactly! This thing has to be fairly big compared to like a computer chip so if she was a baby it wouldn't have been able to go any further because of the size of the patient and would need to leave room for development. This would also explain the Cerebellum being intercepted…" Charley sat up and watched as John sighed in frustration at him.

"Oh sorry! The chip's purpose was to negate stress. It was too big for her baby brain to be completely in the right place through out her life because the brain grows as we age. When she hit her head it would have like hit the on switch, or when she hit puberty. I'd wager it was the bump on the head because the other part effected is her motor skills when touched. It's because an ingrained reflex in her brain doesn't register anymore before it does it so it has become the normal course of action which it would have been after being hit in the head." Charley yawned and Derek groaned before he pushed the man off the desk from behind sharply and Charley hobbled.

"Charley! I asked for a translation!" John exclaimed in the same frustration since the way the man was talking wasn't helping them to understand.

"Geez. The overload with the PTSD triggered the on switch and she's stuck that way. That idiot proof enough for you Derek?" Charley yawned as he flopped down on the cot beside the mans feet. Charley was too tired to realize what he'd just said, but John and Derek shared a smile as all hope was renewed.

"Umm, why don't we give her a little while before we share the news? Wow, she is gonna need some time to get used to this, but then she's gonna need a place to practice. A terminator to practice on as well. One that doesn't have anything else to do or will answer to anyone else. It's gonna have to be a newer model because that is what she'll be up against. Are we gonna need to go topside instead of the tunnels? Damn a thousand things are popping in my head Derek. The most pressing is, how the hell do I relate to this woman?" John laughed and Derek reveled in the sound with a smile of his own.

"Damn it if I don't know it kid. The way I see it though it's pretty clean cut what we each do now. You and Ellison are going to need to go through Adam's experiment with the girl as well as make her a practice assassin. Charley's gonna need to get her on her feet and me…well I get to muster the bilge rats forward." Derek groaned as he looked at the door and then back up at the ceiling as John smiled again in the mans direction as his mind whirled.

"Well Charley's out for now. I'll head back to Dent. She and I are gonna need to get to know each other I'd say because we aren't doing well on that at all. You can either grab some sleep while you can, or you could do inventory reports for Ellison." John mocked, only a slight amount of tension sinking into his shoulders at the thought of going back to the closed quarters with their new miracle. John knew none of them would faint just yet. They would wait to see what she could do before they put all their hope into her, but they were fairly far gone now by the look of Derek and it was nice to feel hope again.

"One thing. If she really can do this, why wouldn't we send information about her back to us?" John asked, seeing a small amount of hope die in Derek's eyes, but it was only a slight flicker of doubt.

"Maybe we will see in the actual future kid. You get back to my girl and I'll send Ellison to his homework." Derek replied while he made his way to the door in the same movement John did. John shut the door behind him and tried really hard not to roll his eyes as Cameron fell into step behind him from her place at the right of the other room's door. John nodded ever so slightly to Ellison as Derek made his way over and John snuck out of the command center. He waited a few minutes and a few yards in before he let his body language lie slip off him. John ordered Cameron to stay at the end of the hall and was relieved when she stayed silently following orders. John hesitated at the blast door a moment. He knew the door was unlocked like he'd left it since J wouldn't be able to move that far, but he took a deep breath in anticipation when he leaned on the handle to open it. He rolled his eyes at the tension that swept through him when he stepped into the room and searched for J a split second. She was still in the exact place she had been when he left, but she turned her eyes to him and followed him with them until he sat down beside her on the larger then standard bed. None of the marshal laws applied to this situation and he had no idea how to handle this woman.

"Good news?" J asked and John finally brought his eyes back up to J's face and dared to look her directly in the eyes. His mind raced with what he would say to her. She had a piece of metal inside her and she'd never even known it…she didn't know it. John thought a moment that the doctors she'd come across had to have known. She'd probably set off every metal detector she'd ever walked through as well. Dogs had to tolerate her but at the same time not linger around her. John was lost thinking about these kinds of things while he stared into her eyes and J felt the tension sink into her gut.

"John?" she asked after a minute of silence in which he just stared at her like he was trying to figure out a puzzle before him and it both bothered and thrilled her to have his full attention.

"I'm trying to think about how to tell you something. You aren't going to like this and I think it would be better coming from your father." John said, standing up quickly and breaking the eye contact. John moved the traces of what they had been doing before he left from his chair and sat down. He glanced up at the ceiling a moment and then at the papers that covered his desk that seemed insignificant now when he realized he might have been better off taking a denial all the way road.

"My father? What does he have to do with you thinking I'm some how metal?" J asked in a slight panic. She trusted John, but she wasn't comfortable hearing him talking about her family. He was after all still all of there commanding officers. She didn't believe he was capable of unprovoked evil but she had never needed a justified reason to worry about her family in these times and before and his reputation was anything but spotless.

"I tell you what J. Why don't we just take it easy for a while and put it to the back of our minds. We'll both go talk with him when you're healed. That alright with you?" John said, knowing he wouldn't be able to let it go, but he needed her to stop asking more then he needed her to like him right now. He wanted that more then anything right now with the information he'd just gotten still screaming in his mind along with everything he would need to do for her but he knew it would be a long process and he didn't want to screw it up from the start.

J considered the look on John's face a moment and took a deep breath that both hurt and felt good at the same time. She tried to calm her heart, but it was still skipping beats looking up at John's face with that half smile she wondered if he even knew he was doing.

"Okay sir." J responded and John huffed in mock irritation with the militaristic reply.

"So J I heard from a reliable source you grew up with a Barbie bicycle." John chuckled at her when her eyes widened a fraction at the joking tone in his voice as well as the information. J closed her eyes a moment before a smile worked its way onto her face lightly.

"I did. Not a fan of pink these days though. I assume you have been talking to my mother then. She delights in that story these days. You are certainly going through some severe background checks these days. Wouldn't it be easier to get a dog?" J said; her voice joking but her mind taking it seriously. John just gave her another half smile and leaned back in his chair.

"Well you can count your blessings. The other three people to ever come in here went through a Sarah Connor background check two of them almost failed." John laughed while he ran a hand up his cheek noticing he needed to shave for a fraction of a second. J watched him and she felt more at ease then when they had been talking about her would be craziness earlier. She thought about what John's mother was like in her mind. Every resistance soldier pictured Sarah Connor at one point or another. Kyle had even showed her a picture of her that John had given him…J thought about that a moment before she brought her eyes back to John's face since she had started staring off into space to his left.

"John, can I ask you something?" J started, unsure imminently if she had crossed a boundary. They were being so good to her and she didn't want to have to move that was foremost in her mind, but John's eyes widened a little bit and that half smile was back. She blinked a few times to get the thoughts of how cute that smile was out of her head where they did not belong and had long since been buried before now.

"What would you like to know Dent?" John asked, picking up a random report on top of the desk and looking at it absently so as not to look to intense and remain in the status quo they seemed to be making. John waited patiently while J hesitated.

"I used to look after this kid. I…you gave him a picture of your mother…I…you know what, I don't want to know. Ignorance is a blessing these days. Sorry for bringing it up. It's kinda a sore spot anyway. So what was her problem with your generals? Baum's alter ego seems like a comic relief, who was the other one?" J stuttered before her voice got faster when she decided she really didn't want to know and she didn't want to ask about something she had no business knowing. She had forgotten momentarily who she was talking to and that scared her a little. This was JOHN CONNOR for crying out loud and she was just not supposed to be able to ask him questions about his mother! She panicked in her head as she threw her eyes toward the door she knew she couldn't get to if she tried.

"It's fine. Kyle Reese isn't something I like to talk about either…" John sighed which caught J's attention. J snapped her eyes up to his face even though he was not looking at her. She did not expect him to know Kyle's name and it just floored her to think he remembered it. Surely he had more important things to remember and worry about then the young man she'd looked after for a few years.

"It was Ellison. Mom had a problem with most people." John laughed dryly though the humor was present in his voice J knew she'd just upset the status quo and she could have kicked herself for it if she could have moved. J thought about it and realized the sooner she could move the sooner she got back to the real world and away from the crazy bi-polar world going on in this room. She thought quickly about how she could salvage this before it turned back into him accusing her of being metal and mental; or in other words Skynet.

"So what will my new mission parameters be, if I may ask?" J threw out desperately and John's eyes stopped reading over the page in his hands to look up at her, a little startled but the surprise not meeting his eyes. John raised an eyebrow at her and she blinked with confusion at the hesitation she saw there before she couldn't make out anything on his face other then a clear message of the word; boundary. It was as if he turned off her ability to read people and that gave her goose bumps all over her body. She felt a little scared to see that the man could do that. Switch from one body language and mannerism to another without missing a beat. He did it so fluently that she wondered if his nice guy act had been really just that. It freaked her out completely to see the blank slate before her when she'd only asked what she'd be doing now. She'd stumbled over some kind of trip wire and it scared the shit out of her to think with a simple question she'd flipped a switch.

"Well I'll tell you what. This is an inventory list. These all are really inventory lists. I think in the future you'll be looking over a lot of them but for now lets not think about the future." The humor was in his voice, as well as the mannerisms, but his body language shifted with the slightest movements and J found herself swallowing, intimidated like she was staring down that T-1000 again.

"Sir did I say something wrong?" She asked, trying to stay strong while her mind flashed back to the test theory she'd had when she first woke up. She managed to ask with a straight voice though and she marveled at herself and at John. John sighed at her and his shoulders slumped a little indicating he'd found an act to play.

"J I think it's going to be best if we just stick to the now until everything is explained and I don't think it's a good idea to look into the future. All you get is a headache." John said, clearly having done the little show for her to back up those words and she found herself agreeing all too quickly. She wasn't a coward in any sense of the word, but seeing his presence shift from blank to anger and then to deadly without a word or weapon and feeling her adrenaline course through her in the silence had driven the point home for her. She wasn't going to forget this was John Connor she was getting mixed up with, she promised herself. Nice guy in private or not this was the commander of the resistance and he was the most powerful man in the world. He'd just let her know where the boundary was and she would respect that in true militaristic fashion.

"Yes Sir." J said, her voice sounding sturdier then she felt, but she used the adrenaline coursing through her to move her hand up to her face and pull a loose strand of hair behind her ear that had been bothering her. She saw John lift an eyebrow as his 'nice guy' body language came back. His voice hadn't changed the whole time, but she realized he'd done it on purpose. He'd used the feeling in the air to intimidate her and she would not have believed it if it hadn't just happened. He'd clearly been aiming to knock all thoughts of tomorrow out of her head, but knowing what he'd been trying to do only made her think it but not speak it. John leaned back in his chair, still looking at her. She stared back, unsure where to go from there. It seemed they were once again at a stand still…

*****

It took two and a half weeks for J to get back to her feet and by the time Charley let J out of that bed she thought she might have gone crazy. She'd found talking to John was not impossible only hard when they both held everything back, but it was often Derek and Charley she was left with over those weeks so she had forged a closer bond with the two generals. They evaded questions, but they were more honest with her then Ellison was usually. Derek and Charley were more talkative as well, which was a relief for J. J was still bandaged up from her visit to deaths door, but she leaped at the chance to get out of that tiny room she'd been reduced to pacing. She knew in the back of her mind she would always remember John's room was exactly eight steps from wall to wall. Charley had laughed at her, telling her she'd better wait for him to lead her or she would get lost on her way back. She'd followed him without a word.

She intended to go straight for her mother, a civilian so she wouldn't have to think about John Connor again until she was summoned back to command. She watched John in the command center as Charley led her out and she realized the differences imminently in Charley when they walked through that door as well as the tightly restrained curiosity of the techs. It was like a personality switch the second he crossed the threshold. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to do that so completely. She realized the air around him had changed, like it had with John that one time. She found her shoulders straightening a little under the weight of the eyes and her military training seemed to pound her on the head. She hadn't gotten three steps into the command center however, before she realized something was going on. Charley led her to the door on the other side of the command center where John's bodyguard was standing outside. She blinked as she entered to find Ellison and her father…

She'd have given anything to be back in that room once she'd taken in everything her father had to say. Experimented on…a would be terminator cpu…she could almost swear she felt it now. She could feel it as if it were a phantom pain at the base of her skull. She couldn't believe it at first. She'd accused them of lying to her, before they showed her the terminators she'd brought down. She felt betrayed by Adam when she found out he'd been testing her. He got the rest of them killed for her and she'd have killed him if it hadn't cost him his life. It had been too much for her to handle which is how she'd found herself running for dear life as her father called after her and Cameron moved to avoid her. She didn't care about military protocol or how people would react to a crazy woman running out of command like a terminator was chasing her. She didn't give a damn about anything for a moment. She just kept running, past the command center entrance, past the sector entrance, through the connector tunnels between sectors, she'd run without knowing where she was going. She didn't feel anything from her injuries with the mindlessness overtaking her and the large dose of meds Charley had given her. She didn't cry when she finally started to feel the pain in her upper back but it caused her to stop in a civilian sector that saw little action these days, but it had as little as a year ago.

J breathed in deeply as she slid down the nearest wall that was cold to her uncovered shoulders. There was sweat rolling down her neck into the top of the standard issue tank top. She didn't take in the crumbling picture of the lion chewing on a terminator skull, but she stared at the ground as a million questions ran through her head like the rats around her scattered. What would she do now? How long had she been able to do this? Why had this happened to her? What if she couldn't do what they would want her to do? Why hadn't anyone ever told her? Why hadn't the doctors she'd been to as a small child when she fell down? Why hadn't her sister when she'd transferred her medical records to her brother-in-laws practice? Why hadn't her mother after she'd been put in the hospital and diagnosed with PTSD later? The questions just keep coming and she grabbed her head lightly as she leaned her forehead on her right knee as her head spun and she stared off into the space beside her. Every question just made this situation worse to her. The over whelming sense of guilt and betrayal weighted heavily on her as the television set/fireplace beside her warmed the air uncomfortably for her sweating form with its brilliant flame that caught her attention.

She didn't know what to do now. She was metal…shouldn't she die now? She couldn't help but think. She had something in common with the things that had killed everyone she'd known. They'd killed everyone and now she felt as if she had been the one to push the button on those nuclear weapons herself. Staring at the flame was hypnotizing to her and she wondered if she really was human anymore. A part of her kept telling her that she was human, but now she couldn't help thinking she was one of them. Her own brain was the enemy she was one of the terminators she'd killed. Taking a hand from the upward side of her head J reached out for the fire, needing to confirm to herself she wasn't metal with real life pain when a hand grabbed her wrist and she flinched. She glared at the owner, finding it highly aggravating that John Connor had ventured out of command when she wanted to be the furthest from him most of all.

"Please let go." She said, her voice dead panning, but she was aware vaguely of a few people in the usually dead area staring in wonder at John's name plate on his uniform jacket, not caring that she was missing hers. John also seemed to notice the small audience they were gathering as J noticed the sweat on his neck as she stared at the male version of the identical pants she was wearing.

"Disperse!" John called loudly and J recoiled again with fright against her will. It had the same effect on the civilians around them as within a minute she was alone face to bending over face with John. She glanced down at his hand, still clutching her forearm in anger before she spotted another face behind John. She growled deep in her throat in barely contained rage to see the terminator he called Cameron right now. How dare that metal bitch come anywhere near her right now was all she could think as John let go of her arm while he moved his head in her line of vision. John roll onto the balls of his feet in his squatted place before her and she glared at him while her eyes flicked to Cameron and back with more anger then she had felt in a long time. This wasn't her fault, it was theirs; was all she could think when John started to talk.

"Dent this doesn't change who you are. I am telling you right now that you are not a terminator. You have the freedom to make your own choices. To make choices that aren't in your mission's best interest. You can feel…It's not going to mean much to you right now, but you'll see the difference between them and us." John said to her and she snapped her eyes back to his face, seeing nothing but red at the comment.

"Us? Us?! Are you shiting me?!" She screamed, not afraid anymore of him in the least as she stood up and he followed her. He could kill her if he wanted and she didn't give a damn anymore. She'd rather he killed her then be even the one-millionth part metal she was and she didn't understand how he couldn't understand that. They had never told her! She wasn't one of them; she was one of those monsters! She thought as her eyes went back to Cameron's cold face a moment, desperately wanting anything but to be that. She knew she'd been closed off since the PTSD but never in her wildest dreams had she thought she'd see her reflection in a terminator and that scared her beyond anything she had ever known. Throwing her eyes back into direct contact with John she maintained her glare as the rage simmered to hatred of the entire world. She was so angry she couldn't keep John's stare as her hands clenched as tight as they would go and she ground her teeth as she felt like she was going to explode and maybe attack him. She needed to keep moving and this would all go away was all she could think. She didn't want to stop and think about what her life would be like, which was what John's eyes were pleading her to do.

"You are not affiliated with any terminator model and are there for more computers affiliated and as such more human then not with the unneeded ability to feel a range of neuron impulses." Cameron said from behind John and J heard him curse as she stared up at the terminator with nothing but hatred running through her veins where as she had been getting lost in John's stare and calming down. She wanted to kill that bitch so bad, but first she wanted to torture that piece of metal for making all of this happen until it got the human impulse of pain seriously. However, she felt a somewhat familiar pull at the base of her skull before she was a little hazy as if from blood loss when she jumped onto the feeling. She thought a moment this had to have already been happening but she just didn't notice it in the heat of battle, but if she was given this thing she could use it against this bitch in any way she could before she pulled the trigger herself. She blinked a few times before she started to panic. Her vision was gone and she grabbed out for John in desperation when there was nothing but black surrounding her. She cried out, but she felt a little relief when John's face was again in her vision, but she froze when she realized that it wasn't really John. At least the John she knew. This version was younger, less scared and more innocent look. She started to wonder where she was when it was as if a movie started before her eyes. She was watching a younger John jump out a window from a terminator after several bullets seemed to enter into her from the way the movie was playing. It seemed like hours she was watching all of this. J watched the memories of a younger John Connor in what was first horror but it slowly ebbed as J became focused on what she was seeing. In what seemed like hours J finally started to see something that looked like she could be seeing it through her own set of god given eyes, but it was like watching a split screen and her head was throbbing as the movie won out. She watched as she gained a new understanding of what she had already guessed what seemed like hours ago that was Cameron's programming. Or more importantly; Cameron's memory cache.

She watched John, his mother, Baum, Dixon, even Ellison in a few cases with no real sense of time. She watched as if from around the corner as John viewed the dead body of the girl named Riley. She watched as John grew closer to the machine with out feeling a thing herself as if in limbo until she began to feel sorry for him. She watched as Cameron's statistical data on performance raced across her screen every time the machine flirted with John and it made her curious. She watched as he cried when his mother died even watched horrified when John and the machine she was watching through started a real relationship before her very eyes. She watched as Cameron searched every escape route and contingency plan she knew about when John dropped off the grid shortly after without a word which was a relief to J. She watched how Cameron had come upon John and John's now late wife. She watched the platonic relationship John had with the now dead woman with confusion, the same as Cameron's calculations when John's twins were born. J began to start to panic then, wondering what the hell was happening to her to understand the statistical data running through her head as if she was the one thinking it.

It wasn't until J started to once again look for a way out of this coma like nightmare that she felt a pull from the back of her skull and she cursed every saint in heaven when she felt as if she'd been snapped on the edge of a rubber band. J opened her eyes slowly to notice she was on the ground, with John leaning over her giving off an air of relief momentarily before she closed her eyes again against a fierce bought of nausea that threatened to consume her as she wondered what the hell she had just done, no longer angry about being lied to. Pain had a way of shocking one back to normal and J realized she was more human then ever as the feeling of nausea consumed her whole and she bit her lip to stop from vomiting all over John. Who was calling out to her but she couldn't hear anything; it was as if she was incased in her own fog of hell. She'd understood the metal bitch's data, but she'd been able to think through it, ask questions like why do this, or feel empathy, see and understand the feelings of what had looked like love on John's face when he was with Riley and even later Cameron.

"Shit." She whimpered, rolling toward John to have more room as he moved out of her way. It caused her head to spin and she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees when she lost the contents of her stomach on the floor. She groaned when she rolled away from the mess into the middle of the hallway with her eyes closed as she tried to breathe steadily. It wasn't right to feel like this if she'd done this before, but she realized she'd never really done that before and she'd never known she was doing it. J opened her eyes once she had her breathing under control to stare at the partially crumbling grime encased ceiling above her with the lone over head light in the tunnel flickering above her. She could just see John's combat boots to the left of her vision but she brought her hand up to her forehead silently feeling a little embarrassed for having just emptied her stomach in front of him, but her head throbbed.

"You've been out for three hours Dent. What the hell happened?" John said as he squatted down beside. He leaned over and pushed some of her hair off her sweat covered brow and she finally looked up at him, but she was having a hard time seeing him and not the alternate him Cameron saw. It was as if she'd known him her whole life now and she couldn't wrap her head around it. Her brain was conflicted now as if there were two people in it. It was as if she had both the statistical data of Cameron's memory cache and her emotions about that and then her emotions about everything. J took a steadying breath, trying to get her thoughts together as she avoided his eyes. J opened her mouth to say something, but her mind just kept playing a few select images from Cameron's memory. It was John staring at Riley and it was John sweating and panting above Cameron, and it was John holding that little boy and it was John screaming at the top of his lungs when Katherine and the twins were killed and it was John watching her sleep so silently and it all conflicted with what she knew she should know about him. It was as if Cameron's whole purpose was John and in reality it was since that was her programming, but the image of another Cameron programming in these memories into this endoskeleton was by far the creepiest.

J groaned, causing a worried look to cross John's face. J looked up into his gaze with a new understanding of how the world worked, but also of how and why he was the way he was and she felt overwhelmingly the need to help him at any cost stronger then it had ever been. J lifted her arm experimentally and brought her hand up to John's face. She watched him look at her in confusion, but he allowed the contact and J tried to control the several different versions of her own emotions that were creeping up into her brain, unsure which one was which. The only thing she was absolutely sure of right now was that she needed to help John no matter what she was; he deserved so much more then an end to it all.

(A/N You know hitting the review button sends me an email telling me to get off my butt and write the next chapter. Might be one of the reasons this took so long! Again I am supper busy and this is slowly turning back into a hobby :'( but I hope you like it. I felt like I need to move this along more in the next couple chapters there will probably be some parts that are like…a few weeks later…six months later…stuff like that. But of course I haven't written it so I don't know what will come out of my brain! P.S. Props to Wikipedia for the anatomy lesson^^)


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